


I’ll be your lover and I’ll hold your hand

by Gigi_Bell



Series: ABO/Wolf [7]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Byun Baekhyun-centric, Consensual Underage Sex, Cute Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Fluff and Angst, Human Byun Baekhyun, Idiots in Love, M/M, Sweet Park Chanyeol, Teen Romance, Teenagers, True Mates, Wolf Pack, Wolf Park Chanyeol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 38,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26624281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigi_Bell/pseuds/Gigi_Bell
Summary: “Uh… please don’t - please-“ Baekhyun began to shake and his already teary face was becoming wet again as the wolf leaned down so close it's hot breath was in his face - fangs right in his sight - “Oh god. Please - ple-“It licked him.A wolf just licked him.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Series: ABO/Wolf [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055228
Comments: 71
Kudos: 410





	1. Pack of Dogs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is solely mine, I do not allow stories to be posted on any other site, and any translations that are done will be posted here on my own page, I don’t allow my works to be posted under any other accounts.

Baekhyun never wanted to move, but a sixteen year old really didn’t have much - if any - say in the subject.

His parents had separated and while he expressed staying with his mom because he wouldn’t have to leave his friends - that hadn’t went over well considering his mom was the reason _for_ the divorce and her alcoholism wasn’t the most impressive thing to show her teenage son.

Now Baekhyun was in the middle of some _shit_ town, in some _shit_ neighborhood, and in the middle of the goddamn woods.

He even had to switch cell phone carriers in order to just have service in his new house because it was literally in the forest.

What kind of town was in a forest? 

One _shitty,_ obviously.

It wasn’t that Baekhyun was completely angry about the change, not really when there were some pluses about it.

A plus, his father wasn’t really home to bother him and his new house was nice.

A plus, the new school he'd start in a few months was a new start and he looked forward to hopefully not being teased for his round, wire rimmed glasses and sweaters when this wasn’t a big city and he didn’t _need_ to dress like a rich city boy.

He always hated to get teased for not dressing nice - it wasn’t like money grew on trees.

Hell, if it did then he had plenty of trees now.

A negative, it was _wet_ here. Everything was wet and rainy and Baekhyun now owned three different colored rain boots simply to take the trash out.

 _Go get out, explore,_ his dad kept saying as he’d been holed up in his room all week since they’d arrived.

Easy to say when his dad had a car and didn’t have to walk around in the muck and grime.

Baekhyun was _exasperated._ And yet here he was still doing as his dad said and walking the path towards town.

It was a few miles through the woods, a rocky path clearly meant to be a trail, and honestly it was nice. 

What also was nice was that his neighbors were pretty far away and Baekhyun thought he was getting lucky not having any annoying neighbors to deal with.

_Spoke too soon._

Baekhyun only heard laughing and footsteps before suddenly his vision was getting spun upside down and he was falling directly on his ass in a puddle of mud, legs splayed out in front of him and feeling mud going into his rain boots. 

“Woah! Woah!”

“What the hell you just ran him over!” 

“I didn’t think anyone would be out here!”

“I didn’t even see him!”

Baekhyun wanted to cry purely in embarrassment as he removed his glasses to try and clean them, still sitting in mud but virtually blind.

Really, these boys just looked like blurry lumps.

_“Fuck! I said slow down, Sehun!”_

Baekhyun saw a blurry form coming closer to him, four blurry forms in total but he just shoved his somewhat cleaned glasses on and wiped his cheek with his sleeve. 

“I’m really sorry.” The boy looked younger than him in his face, yet his entire body looked like a grown mans, in fact _all_ of them looked grown.

They obviously weren’t though, only teenage boys would be running around thoughtlessly in the woods.

“Hey, he’s pretty cute.” 

Baekhyun blushed although it was covered in dirt as the boy in front of him - Sehun - and a tanned boy started laughing in agreement of the comment.

He accepted the hand up and found the other was extremely warm for someone playing in the rainy woods.

“Shut up and apologize,” The tallest ordered, a scowl on his face and truthfully looking more than frightening with dark brows and a long, chiseled face. 

He _had_ to be older than the boys because he looked nothing short of pissed at their behavior. 

“Kris! You’re no fun! It was an accident,” Sehun whined although sending Baekhyun apologetic eyes.

“It’s okay…” He whispered, wiping muddy palms onto his jeans although it was so useless when now he just needed to go wash off - and maybe schedule a quick cry in. 

The three began to argue with Baekhyun catching a hissing scold towards the tanned boy of _Jongin,_ he didn’t know whether to just turn and leave and spare himself more embarrassment or what.

He didn’t get to make that choice though as he turned around to head back home and jumped, startled at the presence beside him.

His glasses were a bit fogged up from all the temperature changes, so the other was a small bit blurry, but Baekhyun could make out his features.

He didn’t really have _any_ sort of look on his face, no expression, yet he was staring intently.

He was decked out in a short sleeve shirt even though it was around thirty degrees out and wet, wearing only normal tennis shoes as if he didn’t care about the water soaking through his shoes. 

A head of brown curls and a form that _towered_ over his. Well, all of them seemed taller than Baekhyun, but this one was still huge.

These boys were weird, but Baekhyun was willing to consider this brunette the weirdest because he was just _staring._

So much so that Baekhyun turned red and coughed into his elbow to try and break it, yet the tall boy just continued staring.

A whistle was what made Baekhyun look away because it was one that was teasing yet playful, one boys did when trying to infer something. 

“Ohhhh! Chanyeollie, look at that-“ Jongin didn’t get to continue before Baekhyun watched Kris wrap a hand around his mouth and shove him into the forest floor.

The two began to wrestle it out while Sehun cackled at them and Baekhyun raised a brow because if someone did that to him he’d be pissed.

Jongin didn't seem to be angry at all at being placed into mud.

Baekhyun knew he was going to get sick after just one fall in the cold mud, so he looked away with a shake of his head at their strangeness, turning to try and get back home.

“Excuse me.” He whispered under his breath, looking at his feet as he shifted to walk on the path back home. 

Chanyeol didn’t move an inch, and it was honestly beginning to creep Baekhyun out as he fiddled with the end of his sleeve and licked his lips anxiously.

Was he about to be made fun of? 

Ridiculed?

Was he about to start his new place off like this?

_“I’m sorry I didn’t help you up.”_

Baekhyun gulped, the deep voice filling his ears as if it was said loudly although Chanyeol had only murmured it. 

He looked through his hair beginning to feel the mud dry to his jeans, “It’s okay. Um.. your.. your friend did it.” 

“He shouldn’t have. I’m sorry _I_ didn’t do it.” 

Baekhyun laughed quietly, positive the other was just playing around considering it really didn’t matter and he’d much rather not be sitting in mud in the first place. 

It faded off when he realized the other wasn’t laughing.

“Um…” Baekhyun shifted towards the path and shrugged uncomfortably, “... bye.” 

As soon as he said that it felt like the boys were all silent, no longer playing around or wrestling.

Kris jumped up soaked in mud and rustled his hair out as if it didn’t bother him at all to be covered in dirt, “What’s your name?” 

“Byun Baekhyun..”

“You’re the new rangers son!” Sehun exclaimed, clicking his fingers as if he’d connected the dots and deserved reward.

“Yeah.” Baekhyun whispered, stuffing hands into his pockets and nodding again, “Okay, bye.” 

“Oh, wai-“

Jongin was shushed again, this time by Chanyeol stepping in front of him as if he had something much more important to say. 

He didn’t say anything and Baekhyun was glad because he wanted to shower forever.   
  


******

Baekhyun did get sick, and not in an attractive way.

He got sick in the hacking and snotty and red eyed way - the kind of sick that had you unable to sleep because of the aching.

Three days of just lying in bed and internally hating himself for even attempting to go outside when suddenly fate decided no more wallowing for him.

Someone was knocking on the door.

Baekhyun whined and attempted to straighten out his hoodie as he was standing in the kitchen warming up some soup, he really wasn’t in a good place to answer the door.

Yet he _was_ because his dad wasn’t home.

He answered the door with a huff, dragging his sweatpants along the wood floor and popping it open without thought of peeking through the peephole.

Of course life wasn’t on his side because what greeted him was one _hell_ of a good looking boy, and without all other blurriness of mud on his glasses Baekhyun nearly shut the door on him.

Chanyeol must have noticed his small movement - or his unintelligible squeak- because he laid a large palm on the door and placed a smile on his face that popped a dimple out on his cheek.

Baekhyun instantly got a rushing stomach ache at the look which led him to look down at his baby blue sock colored toes with a whisper of _oh fuck._

Almost as if he’d heard him, or been able to pick up on his anxiety, Chanyeol laughed before moving his hand closer to where Baekhyun’s fingers curled around the door. “Hi.” 

_“Hi.”_

Just then Baekhyun coughed wetly into his elbow, hacking into the black hoodie that drowned him so much so that his glasses slipped off his nose and he was about to cry if they hit the ground and broke again.

Only they didn’t, because Chanyeol must have had _very_ quick reflexes and had caught them barely four inches away from his face.

Baekhyun gawked, hand still to his lips in fear he’d hack on the other. 

Chanyeol scratched the back of his neck while laughing a bit awkwardly and holding the glasses to him.

The shorter accepted, placing them back on albeit still looking shocked at how fast they’d been grabbed. 

“Holy shit, you’re sick as fuck.” 

Baekhyun paled as that was a _nice_ way of saying you look like _shit._

There goes what little part of him that said _flirt your ass off._

Chanyeol looked pale too, as if that wasn’t what he meant to say at all, raising a hand to smack himself on the temple, “Fuck. No. That’s not - I mean.. I just… you’re really sick.” 

_“Yeah,”_ Baekhyun said plainly, leaning against the door.

The taller eyed around him as if filled with anxiety and confusion _and_ panic before meeting his eyes with a fumbling, “Y-I just mean that you’re cute but you’re sick - wait, like you’re cute anyway - but like super sick and you still look cute and - god..” 

Baekhyun bubbled a laugh from his throat as Chanyeol really didn’t look the type to fumble like this, much less when all the vibes he got from the other felt like a warning to stay away.

He was weird - his friends were _fucking_ weird.

Baekhyun didn’t mind as long as he didn’t get shoved into mud again. 

Chanyeol’s shoulders relaxed even though Baekhyun was very quiet, he was just a very quiet person in general. 

He seemed to either be paying very close attention to him - or his hearing was extremely good.

“Look. I came over to uh.. say sorry.” 

“Okay, it’s okay.” 

Chanyeol looked like a deer caught in the headlights when he realized things were that simple, internally beating himself up and it was obvious when he groaned and leaned onto the doorway. “I’m _so_ not good at this.” He whispered.

Baekhyun raised a brow, “Not good at what?”

The taller jolted back with a light blush and it was obvious Baekhyun wasn’t supposed to hear, yet Chanyeol just swallowed hard and gulped, hands in his pockets now as he stepped back a bit and nodded his head behind himself, “Come with me.” 

“Huh?” Baekhyun scooted out a bit to see, sock covered feet touching the concrete porch and cold seeping through them. 

There was a shiny black car just waiting in the driveway, obviously Chanyeol's, and Baekhyun gawked, looking up to ask how the hell he had such a nice car but found himself way too close to the taller.

Chanyeol hadn’t moved back at all when he stepped forward and it was obvious he wasn’t planning to seeing as he was back to staring at Baekhyun much closer than days prior.

The look he gave when staring was unreadable yet Baekhyun felt it was considered nearly rude to look away.

He could feel the heat coming off Chanyeol in waves although he other _was_ wearing a zip up this time Baekhyun felt it was more for show because he was so warm even with a half foot between them. 

These boys were so _weird._

The corner of Chanyeol's lip twitched and Baekhyun saw that the taller was scanning his face and released a nearly silent panicked noise as he stepped back, nearly tripping over the edge of the doorframe if he hadn’t grabbed the door in time. 

How fucking embarrassing.

Baekhyun was red faced and knew it as he held the door and nodded frantically, “I-uh let me get my boots!” 

Chanyeol laughed, but it didn’t sound demeaning.   
  


******

They didn’t speak much other than Baekhyun asking where they were going, but that was answered quick enough because it was only a five minute drive down the clearing to get there.

Chanyeol’s house was the hotspot it seemed, but that could also be attributed to the fact that Kris’ house was just down the road too.

Baekhyun didn’t know how they survived with _this_ many people at their homes.

It was absolutely packed, and it was a large house so that said something.

“Pack meetings every Friday night,” Chanyeol said, holding the passenger door open and waiting for Baekhyun to get out.

“Pack of what?” The smaller wondered, sniffling into his sleeve as he climbed out, boots causing the water on the grass to swish around under his feet.

Chanyeol didn’t answer instantly, and when the smaller looked at him it was because he had that same _I fucked up_ look on his face.

It was pretty cute although Baekhyun had _no_ room to be musing about another being cute when he was as cute as dead worms right now.

And if he knew he’d be seeing so many people he would have actually put clothes on, not sweatpants and a hoodie.

“Hey! Hey, Baekhyun! Wow!” 

Baekhyun squealed when he was abruptly lifted over Jongin's shoulder as if they were lifelong friends, hand shifting to hold his glasses down and staring at the dark wood of the entryway.

There were a lot of noises - _a lot -_ but there was one that was nearly like nails in a chalkboard before they all quieted down.

_“Put him down.”_

Baekhyun found his feet on the floor instantly while Jongin whined, “You’re no fun.” 

Chanyeol grasped Baekhyun’s hoodie to steady him seeing as his equilibrium was off balanced, hand warming through his clothes and to his skin. “He’s _sick._ Everyone be easy or I’ll kick you from the meeting.” 

“It’s like this already?” A laughing voice said.

“Shut up, Jongdae.” Chanyeol hissed over Baekhyun’s head, steering him towards the door where shoes were piled up. 

Baekhyun had to hold onto the arm that was around his waist just to remove his boots, head spinning around in circles and wondering _why_ he’d come along.

Why Chanyeol kidnapped him in the first place when he was nothing more than walking dead right now.

“Chanyeol? Is that you?” A mans voice cooed and Baekhyun stiffened up at the tone because it’d been a while since he’d been in the company of someone’s parents.

When Chanyeol moved a bit to the side, Baekhyun was able to peer around the room and regretted it as soon as he saw how many other boys there were - many, and all looking at him.

As soon as he flushed under his glasses the boys started getting loud again, back to video games and doing whatever they had been before.

“Yes, Minseok.” 

Baekhyun jolted purposely back to hide under Chanyeol's arm when the boy tried to push him towards the living room and where the man stood.

“Oh.” The adult said once more and Baekhyun snuck a peek only to see a man only a bit taller than him holding a kitchen towel and wiping his hands off, eyes cat like. “Is this-“

“Baekhyun.” Kris cut in swiftly as if such little effort was needed to know what was going on.

Baekhyun would kill to know what was going on when the man gasped loudly and shook a hand out towards him.

“Oh dear! Oh, someone go get Luhan, come here!”

Honestly, there was no way this man was old.

Chanyeol sort of lifted and pushed him along to the man and into the next room over and Baekhyun was _confused._

He could be no older than thirty, there was no way he was Chanyeol's father if Chanyeol was around his age - and he had to be.

“Oh my - Chanyeol!” Minseok yelled as he grabbed Baekhyun’s hand, “He’s freezing _cold!”_ He scolded, tugging the smaller along with him and into the kitchen with a tsk, practically lifting Baekhyun on the way as if he weighed nothing all the while glaring at Chanyeol.

The taller boy looked sheepish, leaning against the kitchen doorway with his back towards the chaos in the other room. “He uh… may or _may not_ be sick. Maybe not. Maybe… Sehun pushed him into a puddle a few days ago.” 

_“Did not!”_ Sehun yelped in the other room.

Baekhyun didn’t even know if he could stomach meeting all the other boys in the living room right now, not when he could barely handle himself.

“Oh, boy. Can you not play _nicer?”_ Minseok scolded with a finger towards Chanyeol and although the teenager was much larger than him Chanyeol cowered sheepishly into his zip up, “How dare you? How can you just allow someone to come in and trample your mat-“

Baekhyun’s coughing fit started up so badly his ears popped and he shrunk into his coat because he knew the boys in the next room stopped being so loud because of him.

How embarrassing.

His face was red and he was hiding in the counter of the island.

He heard someone in the next room ask, “Don’t humans _die_ from that stuff?” And wanted to see what weirdo was calling others _human_ instead of his name _._

He didn’t have a chance because there was a blanket being laid on his back and Minseok was on the opposite side of the kitchen murmuring about hot chocolate and digging in cabinets.

There was already a _ton_ of food out, well more than needed for even this many people, and Baekhyun was upset he didn’t have an appetite to eat it.

“Hey. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t..” Chanyeol sighed and moved a stool closer to Baekhyun’s, still patting his back and looking overwhelmingly guilty, “.. I’m sorry you're sick and I’m sorry I brought you here. I’ll take you home in a minute.” 

“It-“ Baekhyun croaked and knew he must look terrible,

“-‘s okay.” 

“It’s not okay. It’s not and I-“ Chanyeol looked _way_ too worked up over a simple cold, as if he single handedly was the cause or could have done something about it, “ - fuck. I keep fucking this up, huh? I just… uh.. wanted to help you make _friends._ I’m really sorry, Baekhyun.” 

_Fucking what up exactly?_

Baekhyun didn’t say that though, he just got some more coughs out before taking a deep breath, “Thank you.” 

_“Huh?”_ Chanyeol had really large puppy eyes when confused.

“For.. friends. Want to stay… just a little longer.” 

He was in no place to be playing around right now, and even less to potentially get all these others sick, yet Chanyeol brought him here and he did feel a little guilty to just split so fast.

What if they didn’t want to be his friend then?

“What a sweetheart, what a sweet boy, aren’t you so adorable?” Baekhyun had Minseok’s hands on his cheeks and a cup of hot chocolate on the counter in an instant, face being squeezed and cooed at like he was a baby. 

It’d been awhile since he got this sort of attention and he laughed.

“You got such a cute one, Yeol, you’re a lucky boy. Very lucky.” 

Baekhyun’s head was hurting too bad to even wonder what that was supposed to mean.

_“Yeah. I know.”  
_

******

“Dad?” 

“Yeah?” 

Baekhyun trailed down the stairs and held his phone in one hand, the staircase rail in the other. “Hey.. can I take the car to my friends house?” 

His father shifted from his spot watching television to look at him, confusion in his eyes, “What friends?” 

Baekhyun sighed and trudged down the stairs some more, “Remember? I told you a few weeks ago I made friends. Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongi-“

 _“Baekhyun,”_ His father sighed and Baekhyun wanted to roll his eyes at the tone.

It was one that told him he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. 

“Baekhyun, those kids are _weird._ I thought this change would be good for you, and then you choose such weird kids to hangout with. I thought you were tired of being picked on and when the school year starts I can’t just leave work to pick you up, honey. Not anymore.” 

He shouldn’t be surprised nor offended.

He shouldn’t be and yet Baekhyun was filled with both.

He was _always_ the weird kid, even to his father? 

Always the nerd, always the punching bag.

The butt of the joke.

Baekhyun didn’t think this was very funny at _all._

“You think I’m- I’m weird…” He murmured to himself, eyes filling with tears as he clenched his phone in his hand, _“Me? How?”_

Adults were known to phrase things terribly, and it didn’t matter if his father was trying to say what he thought was best because Baekhyun was so upset.

He decided he didn’t want to even hear his father's apology and turned to run out the door like a child rather than accept whatever bullshit apology he’d get.

They’d act like this never happened later anyway.

The door swung loudly against the wall and he heard his father yell after him as he ran across the clearing.

It didn’t matter where he went because Baekhyun knew he wouldn’t call rangers to look for him anyway - how bad would that look? The new guy having to call in for his _weirdo son._

Pathetic.

Baekhyun was pathetic and was crying like a child, wholeheartedly. 

He was tired of just being strange. Having no friends, pretending shit was dandy while his parents yelled and screamed at each other while he was just trying to ask for help on math homework.

For his father's sake, he’d pretend because the only other option was to go back to his mom and that didn’t sound fun at all when he’d finally found some friends here. Ones that didn’t put him down and brush it off with a _oh, it’s just a joke, Baekhyun._

Was it a joke to make fun of things he liked? 

Was it a joke to take his clothes and never give them back?

Was it a joke to break his gaming computer and get him grounded for weeks when blamed for it? 

Didn’t _feel_ like a joke.

In fact, Baekhyun hadn’t cried this much in a long while because he was just _so_ exhausted.

It was stupid of him to lay in the middle of a forest just to cry. It was nearing dark and there were bears and predators and Baekhyun didn’t _care._

He just sobbed like a newborn.

It would always go the same, he’d go home and his father would be asleep waiting for him on the couch and the next morning he’d get a _‘there’s breakfast on the counter for you, I love you, honey’_ text and they’d pretend it never happened. 

And Baekhyun would throw away the mushy donut to make _himself_ breakfast and would likely cry a bit later when he had to greet his father with a smile.

Because that’s how things _were._

Bullshit.

“S-So stupid,” Baekhyun sniffed and rolled into a ball in the moss, the damp forest floor making his jacket stick to his skin but he pressed his cheek to it anyway.

He felt pathetic, like a child and yet he couldn’t control these feelings at all. 

It could have been minutes that he laid there, but when he checked his phone it had been a good hour of straight crying before the atmosphere changed.

In the midst of sniffing, there was a brush against his jeans.

His first thought, a bug, and he reached down to shoo it off of him but his fingertips brushed something _warm_ and damp.

Second though, a bear.

He was going to get eaten by a fucking _bear._

Baekhyun’s breath got stuck in his throat as he sucked in, holding his knees to his chest and resting on his side as he listened to sticks crack around him.

_More than one bear?_

Now that was _weird._ His father was a forest ranger and so he knew many animals and bears were _not_ pack animals.

Wolves were though.

There was a scratchy, nasally bark from behind him and Baekhyun carefully sat up on his elbow to see what was happening - if he was lucky they’d find other prey.

A huge deep brown colored wolf was standing behind him, barking up a storm and communicating with two others - both smaller, a reddish colored one and the other dirty blonde.

That was _weird,_ different wolf breeds inhabited different landscapes so it was strange in itself.

Yet, nothing could get stranger that the brunette wolf standing beside him with lips curled up and yelping at the other two wolves.

Packs didn’t normally separate.

But, the reddish colored wolf whined and pressed ears down before turning to run off with the dirty blonde sending the larger one what Baekhyun would explain as a _worried_ look if wolves were able to form such a thing.

His heart surprisingly wasn’t racing all that fast even as a wolf three times his size twisted around to lock eyes with his, staring at him and stepping over his legs carefully.

Baekhyun swallowed thickly and as slow as possible reached up to adjust his glasses, lips parted in shock. 

The wolf barked at him and he jumped, startled into fast movement to sit up on his bottom and widen his eyes as he tucked himself up in a ball.

At his reaction, the wolf whimpered, large fluffy ears pressing down and tail wrapping around it's back leg and sitting back on it's legs.

_Was it copying him?_

“Sh..” Baekhyun whispered, shifting his feet in the grass, “Sh.. don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me please.” 

The wolf turned its head all the way to the side, left ear twitching with it's confused action before it’s tail flopped limply to the leaves and gave a single wag.

“You… you… like that? Good boy…” 

Another wag, this time the wolf pawed at the ground and ducked it's head like it was trying to show him something, ducking and coming back up, hitting the floor and doing it again.

Baekhyun shook his head, “I don’t.. don't know.. sorry. I’m sorry, don’t eat me.” 

Yipping quietly, the wolf jumped to it's paws, tail wagging back and forth erratically and Baekhyun stiffened when suddenly it leaped from it's spot to directly in front of him, making the human raise his head up just to see the wolf’s face. 

“Uh… please don’t - please-“ Baekhyun began to shake and his already teary face was becoming wet again as the wolf leaned down so close it's hot breath was in his face - fangs right in his sight - “Oh god. Please - ple-“

It licked him. 

A wolf just _licked_ him.

He’d never heard of a wolf attack being like this before.

Even less so when the warm lick came again and the wolf whined when he didn’t do anything, it’s large nose hitting Baekhyun’s glasses off his face.

Baekhyun laughed because he must be going insane. Of course he was, it was the only other option than he’d already died of hypothermia in the forest.

And as he laughed the wolf released a chirping noise and licked the entire side of his face, jumping back and raising its hind legs in the air to playfully pounce back.

Was a wolf _playing_ with him? 

“Oh- oh no- ew!” Baekhyun squealed as the large tongue swiped across his cheek again, leaving it wet with drool that made him laugh a storm when he wiped it on his sleeve, “No licking!” 

A bark argued with that and Baekhyun giggled when the wolf instead licked his jacket but whined as it did so, sniffing at his clothes.

“You’re strange, huh?” He asked, watching the tail swing back and forth and he had to remember to be careful near it as it looked very strong. “That’s okay. Me too.” 

Baekhyun grunted when the wolf shifted to flop down beside him, a huge head in his face and giving him a mouthful of fur and making the human whine at the weight, “Listen buddy, you’re like huge- ow!” 

If wolves could smile, he was sure this was what it looked like as the wolf’s mouth turned into a very human-like sort of expression of happiness and it plopped it's heavy jaw right on Baekhyun’s sternum, sniffing into his chin and licking at him.

Seemed _someone_ didn’t get the memo that no licking was allowed, but who was Baekhyun to complain when he could be dead right now.

“Ah, I guess you’re pretty cute.” 

To that, the wolf purred and Baekhyun hadn’t known they could make such a noise. 

It was cute, even if his entire neck was soaked when the wolf decided it was done licking him and instead twisted to lay it's head in his lap with a grunt.

The wolf grunted again, side-eying him as it flicked it's tail towards his hand and Baekhyun giggled as he reached down to tuck fingers into the fur. “You like to be pet?” 

A single tail wag to that.

Baekhyun scratched at the wolf’s ears, it’s head, felt the soft and surprisingly clean and well kept fur, watched as the fur turned almost curly at the roots when he brushed fingers through it. 

“You know, I’m really happy I came out here now.” 

The wolf looked near sleep at his menstrations and opened one eye to look at him. 

“It’s just…nice out here. I don’t know, I guess I am.. just some _weirdo_ like my dad said _,_ who the fuck plays with wild wolves? What the hell is wrong with me?” Baekhyun’s voice trailed off into more of a whisper towards the end, voice catching slightly as he dug fingers into fur.

This entire time Baekhyun couldn't say one aggressive thing the wolf had done. He couldn’t name anything aggressive at all until now as the wolf _snarled_ and sat back on it's legs.

Baekhyun wasn’t really scared though because it wasn’t towards him. 

The wolf was snarling as if towards itself and shaking its head back and forth oddly.

“Hey, hey. Calm down, buddy.” 

Baekhyun sat up on his knees and as soon as he put a flat palm out the wolf trotted back over to lay it's damp nose flat against it with deep huffs.

It seemed to like smelling him an awful lot. 

“It’s okay, what’s wrong?” Baekhyun asked, frowning as he pet the wolf’s head with his opposite hand.

It whined, ears pressing down on it's head as it turned to dig it's muzzle into Baekhyun’s neck, whining louder - _whimpering._

He’d made it upset, and had no idea how.

Before he could find out, a howl in the distance interrupted and the wolf whined _more_ and dug into his shoulder like it was hiding.

“Guess you have to go.” Baekhyun murmured, scratching huge ears that fit in his palms, “That’s okay. I need to go too.” 

The wolf huffed as if annoyed at that remark.

“I’m really cold,” He admitted, “I’m cold and my friends might be worried about me, I’ve been out here… at least two hours..” 

It whined but pulled away from him, walking backwards but while looking at him with huge puppy eyes.

Baekhyun giggled and waved as he climbed to his feet, watching the wolf sadly watch him while more howls rang out.

“I’ll see you later.” 

It wagged and turned to start running off leaving the human to laugh.

This was _insane._

There was no way he’d believe it himself had it not happened to him - and his jacket was soaking wet in wolf drool.

Baekhyun honestly didn’t mind because it had cheered him up. 

He didn’t mind being weird if it meant such incredible things could happen, if it meant he could see wolf creatures like that up close.

As he was walking home, he checked his phone and noticed a series of missed calls and texts, both from his father and his friends, but mostly Chanyeol.

He must have been really worried.

Baekhyun decided to call him even if it was considered weird to call instead of text. 

_“Baek? Baekhyun, hey.”_ Chanyeol sounded _really_ out of breath and almost didn’t catch the call until the last ring.

In the background he could hear a lot of the others rough housing and being noisy. 

“Chan, you won’t believe wh-“ Baekhyun stopped himself short. 

If he told anyone, what if they sent rangers after the wolves for coming close? What if they killed the wolf just for being sweet? 

_“Baekhyun, you there?”_

“Oh- yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun cleared his throat and fiddled with his damp sleeve, “I was just going to say I couldn’t catch a ride.”

 _“You go missing for three hours and that’s what you have to say!”_ The other laughed and it still sounded like he was trying to catch his breath.

“Sorry I -“

_“Don’t worry about it. Do you want to come over still, I’ll come pick you up. I just need to shower and I’m on my way.”_

“Yeah…. I think I could use a shower too.”

******

Baekhyun was curious these days.

With school starting in just three months and the tension with his father he found himself at the others houses these days.

Well, mostly Chanyeol's because Minseok and Luhan were the _cool parents._

Or, cool uncles in this case because technically Minseok was Chanyeol's uncle, but was practically his dad if the way he scolded said anything.

Apparently, Chanyeol lived with him due to _‘I have some weird genetics, my uncle has them too so my parents prefer I stay with him.’_

Which was fine with Baekhyun because he was more than happy to have the other stay right here where they could be friends and play video games _all_ the time.

Even if he got weird butterflies in his stomach when Chanyeol did his odd _staring_ thing he tended to do, or when the other yelled for the others to back off when they were too rough with him.

“Hey, Lu?”

“What’s up, puppy dog?” 

Baekhyun giggled at the nickname, sitting at the kitchen counter with a view straight out into a clearing where the others were taking advantage of the oddly sunny day and playing in a sprinkler.

It _really_ wasn’t hot enough to be doing that - it was barely sixty degrees for fucks sake and only barely sunny - yet as soon as it hit sixty all the boys started whining about the heat.

They really _were_ the weirdos, but he was into it. 

“What’s that?” Baekhyun pointed, leaning over to motion towards the claw mark tattoo on Luhan’s shoulder.

“What? This?” He laughed, juggling a soda between his palms and resting in swim shorts against the fridge, “I guess… you can say it’s a family mark of a sort.” 

“You’re as vague as can be,” Baekhyun pouted earning a wink and a laugh from Luhan as they heard the backdoor open up.

“Get used to it, baby doll.” 

_“Who are you saying that to?”_

Baekhyun grinned, nibbling on the inside of his lip as Chanyeol came into the kitchen, wet hair swept out of his face and in black swim trunks only.

“Hi, baby.” 

Luhan whistled like a teenager and not the thirty year old he was as he walked back outside, Baekhyun flushing bright red at the term although Chanyeol said it like it was nothing and was already walking to the snacks by the smaller.

He shoved a pretzel in his mouth before looking at him when not receiving a response.

 _“Hi.”_ Baekhyun mumbled shyly, tucking his hands between his knees.

Honestly, he had no idea how it came to this - probably when Kyungsoo had called him a baby for not liking spicy chips last week which led to Chanyeol and the other arguing in hushed whispers that Baekhyun didn’t hear.

All he did know was that whatever it was about led Chanyeol to storm back to his spot beside him and tug him into his side with his nose pressed in Baekhyun’s hair.

Strange, but Baekhyun _definitely_ wasn’t complaining. 

“You should come out and play.” 

“It’s too cold out, I’ll get sick.” 

Chanyeol frowned at the reminder, shifting back and forth on his feet before stepping to where Luhan had been prior, “You can dress up. Let’s go to my room and find you warmer clothes.” 

Baekhyun _swore_ he was normal, but being around a group of guys that didn’t seem to understand what cold was certainly made him feel like he was sticking out.

Plus, he did want to play too. It wasn’t fair that he couldn’t play when they were.

He nodded after a moment, jumping off his chair to accept Chanyeol's hand.

“Oh!” Baekhyun gawked and shifted his grip to Chanyeol's biceps to turn him a bit. “You have the tattoo too!” 

“What tattoo?”

Thinking he was playing dumb, Baekhyun giggled and touched the tattoo on his ribs, “Woah, it’s so-“

Chanyeol jumped at the touch and the sudden movement caused Baekhyun to be pressed flush against his damp chest.

Adding to the chaos, the water trail that Luhan left everywhere made the taller slip and Baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut, certain he was just about to get crushed beneath Chanyeol.

There was a loud electronic whining noise and the sound of a smack, yet Baekhyun only felt Chanyeol's palm splayed over his spine.

“Are you okay? You’re okay, right?” 

The question was asked worriedly right in his face, warm breath on his forehead and Baekhyun opened his eyes to meet wide and concerned ones, Chanyeol's opposite hand was over his head where Baekhyun couldn’t see.

“I-“ 

“God, did you get hurt?” 

Chanyeol looked absolutely devastated, the hand behind him moving to touch the back of his head despite the fact Baekhyun hadn’t been moved at all - if anything his cheek was sore from smacking into hard muscle. 

“I keep fucking up - goddamn it, I can’t keep-“

Baekhyun was trying to shift into his top toes in order to tell the other to calm down that he was fine, yet the water under his feet made him yelp and find his right foot between Chanyeol's, hands digging into the tallers upper arms for balance.

And when Baekhyun raised his head to try and figure out what to say next he choked on air, a knot in his throat because their lips were touching - _touching -_ their lips were fucking touching and Baekhyun was losing his mind.

_Internally of course._

(Although externally in the form of red cheeks.) 

His glasses were pushed up by Chanyeol's nose being pressed to the side of his own nose, off balancing them.

Baekhyun had no idea what to do, to start crying and apologize or just flat out say _fuck it_ and try to get away with it.

Fortunately for him, Chanyeol looked like he knew exactly what to do.

See, Chanyeol made a lot of noises. The boys all tended to make weird noises and a lot of them, but this was the first time Baekhyun could place an actual growl as the name of a noise Chanyeol could make.

Because he _growled_ before he pressed their lips together harder, forcing Baekhyun to squeeze his eyes shut and attempt to find his footing - figuratively and literally - as Chanyeol's pace was erratic.

Truly ferocious as he had Baekhyun’s lips parted in moments, a large hand holding the back of his head still as he angled it himself, tilting his head to the side to lick the corner of pink, wind chapped lips.

It was a lot to take in at once and Baekhyun released a soft squeak meant only for himself yet Chanyeol with his good hearing must have heard it because he slowed down.

His kiss became more of a series of pecks rather than the obvious intent to make out right in front of the window where everyone - including Chanyeol's uncles - could see them.

Chanyeol chuckled against his mouth and only then did Baekhyun realize he could open his eyes, hoping he hadn’t been standing there with parted lips and shut eyes for too long.

If he was, or if he looked like an idiot, Chanyeol didn’t say so, he just rested his forehead against the crown of Baekhyun’s head, hand on the back of his hair falling to rest on the nape of his neck. “Yixing is cheering.” He laughed.

Baekhyun didn’t hear anything, and from his angle he also couldn’t see out of the window but he would take Chanyeol's word for it.

With ears like _that_ he had to have good hearing.

They were very cute ears though, and Baekhyun had always thought so.

The smaller just released a breathy giggle and dropped his cheek against the tallers chest. His toes were beginning to feel icy standing in the puddle, and now his entire body was too since Chanyeol was damp.

“Oh _fuck.”_

Baekhyun hummed, half dazed and half confused.

“I broke the fridge _again.”_

At that, he jolted back with a frown, twisting around to see what was happening.

And when he did he burst into a shocked laughing fit.

The stainless steel fridge had a huge _hole_ in it, the hissing from the water machine whirling around and water beginning to trickle from it.

He never thought he cared to know what the inside of the mechanics of a fridge looked like, but now he did and it was _insane._

Chanyeol clenched and unclenched his fist, the one that had apparently caught their fall _on_ the fridge. 

Baekhyun was about to splutter _how_ the hell did he just put a fist through that, but he had a prior question. _“Did you just say again? You’ve done that before? Chanyeol, stop laughing!”_

Later that night, Baekhyun was combing his hair, fresh out of the shower, sitting criss crossed on his bed when his phone lit up.

Even _before_ the…. kissing mishap he and Chanyeol messaged a lot.

Really, as soon as Baekhyun was back at home the other was on him like he hadn’t seen him all day, even going old school and calling him.

It was cute, and up until now Baekhyun just thought Chanyeol was a very energetic friend.

Now he realized how oblivious he was.

Baekhyun was just _used_ to pushing his feelings aside that he hadn’t even considered that maybe.. just maybe he wasn’t alone in feeling these things.

 _You still up?_ His phone read, three dots showing up on the bottom like Chanyeol was waiting for him to reply.

He quickly responded that he was, and not even a second later was laughing at the, _good. I’m coming in._

It didn’t really surprise him, just made him blush a little as he realized that meant they’d be _alone_ together.

They were sometimes, but not like how things were _now._

Baekhyun chewed his lip the entire walk downstairs to unlock the door, peeking through it and waiting for the other, but he didn’t have to wait long because Chanyeol was jogging over from the tree line leaving Baekhyun to wonder if someone dropped him off.

“Hey.” Chanyeol’s sparkling grin and slightly breathless tone was far more interesting though.

Baekhyun shuffled as he pulled the door open, nervously fidgeting with his glasses as he laughed, “Hey. What are you doing?” 

“Just wanted to see you more, wanna go upstairs?” 

He hoped the way his heart started racing and pumping blood to his face wasn’t too noticeable as he slipped past the taller to go first up the stairs.

Baekhyun’s breath came out shakily when Chanyeol playfully latched onto his hips over his pajama shorts, leeching in a way that made it slightly difficult to move, but made him giggle as the larger hovered over his spine.

Chanyeol’s mood was all happy and joyful ever since earlier, and it was obvious he was feeling playful as he lifted his feet off the stairs and the smaller squealed when he carried him up the last few steps.

 _“What-“_ Baekhyun was tossed onto his bed with a squealing laugh, damp hair flopping over the rim of his glasses, “- What are you working out with? Boulders?” He cried, sure that it must have taken a lot of effort for him to get that strong. 

“You’re just light, baby.” 

What a _liar._

Baekhyun just giggled and tucked his toes into his blankets, watching Chanyeol scour his room. 

He was glad he wasn’t a messy person by any means, it gave him anxiety forgetting cups or plates in his room or clothes on the floor.

Everything had a place, and he knew Minseok was a bit of a control freak so Chanyeol's room too was very put together due to it.

“Yeol?”

“Mhm.” 

“Really happy I got sick, even if I really hate the mud now.” 

Chanyeol cackled, twisting around and making a beeline for him.

Baekhyun tried to shift towards the wall in order to give the taller space considering he needed it, but Chanyeol apparently wasn’t having that and grabbed his fingers to pull him right in front of him and nearly on his thighs.

“I’m really happy too. I was so surprised then, really surprised you just appeared like that.” 

Baekhyun hadn’t really _appeared_ at all, he’d just been walking silently but the look in Chanyeol's eye suggested that wasn’t what he meant.

“I’m really-“ Baekhyun swallowed and looked down at Chanyeol's jeans, at all the grass stains on them and the small tears from rough housing, “- didn’t have this many friends before, so I don’t think you understand. I’m _really_ happy.” 

A long finger ran under his chin to pull his head up, thumb pressing into his chin and Chanyeol looked so _sad_ to hear that even though Baekhyun knew it was _so_ obvious that he wasn’t the best with others. “Why wouldn’t someone want to be your friend? They would be so lucky to be your friend, Baekhyun. They should feel honored to have you there for them.” 

The smaller laughed in order not to seem too overwhelmed and worked up by that, doing a small shake of his head as he grasped Chanyeol's wrist, “Not… I guess they just weren’t very good friends, big cities have… expectations, I didn’t fit them.” 

Chanyeol’s eyes narrowed and if Baekhyun didn’t know any better he would be quick to say he looked pissed off, but his hand was still on his face and it was soft and gentle. “They were mean to you?”

“I’m not- it’s okay now, just… it’s.. I like it here _more.”_

“I want to know,” Chanyeol said firmly, hand stroking his cheek, “Tell me, I want to know, Baek.” 

Baekhyun debated for a moment, licking his lips and giving a small nod, “Well… I mean, I know I’m not the most… interesting person, but I-I like the things _I like,_ I like to play games and watch movies. It's… nerdy things, and I dress like _this,_ and I’m really.. easy to lie to, I guess. Really naive. I-“

He was interrupted by the hand on his cheek moving to his waist and _tugging him_ into the others lap, forcing him to gasp and hold onto Chanyeol's shoulders. 

“There’s absolutely _nothing_ wrong with you.” Chanyeol said firmly, tucking Baekhyun’s head under his chin and holding his waist, “You’re sweet and beautiful and _nothing_ can change that, okay? They bullied you.

Made you feel bad, those aren’t _friends,_ Baekhyun.” 

“They… I just… I hate _lying,”_ Baekhyun sniffed although not crying, just overwhelmed, “They lied and said they’d be my friends, then lied and took stuff.. lied and blamed, I hated them so _much.”_

Chanyeol gritted his teeth, guilt unknown to the smaller in his lap as he lifted Baekhyun’s chin to connect their lips in the only form of a response he knew to give.

Baekhyun was all accepting though, curling hands into his hair and releasing a soft sigh.

He’d thought maybe the last time Chanyeol was just overwhelmed or something, but he was wrong.

Apparently, the larger just kissed like his life depended on it - as if trying to impress him.

There was no reason for it, Baekhyun wasn’t going to claim he had the most experience in that field at _all,_ and he didn’t want to analyze whether he thought Chanyeol did or not, because he didn’t want to overthink.

Baekhyun was _the best_ at overthinking though, and just as he was wondering if Chanyeol did something like this before, the others hand wandered over the back of his thigh making him squeal with surprise and jolt.

Pulling back with his mouth a small bit away, the only thing Chanyeol did was kiss his jaw as he breathed, lips damp as he peppered kisses across his skin.

Baekhyun was now _overwhelmed,_ brushing fingers through Chanyeol's hair as he tried to catch his breath, but there was a hand near his ass and pulling him closer and kisses being placed on him - he’d never done _this_ before.

And Chanyeol was instantly going for it.

Fortunately, because Baekhyun was blushing and embarrassed when he found himself getting _too_ worked up, he found something that made him giggle and that always got Chanyeol's attention. 

He plucked a strand of grass from the other's hair, laughing as his fingers found more, “Why are you covered in grass?” He giggled.

He just heard Chanyeol laugh without response, and then he grabbed his chin to tilt his head back down to kiss him again.

It was gentler, but still had the same overwhelming feeling.

Baekhyun cupped his face to pull him back softly, pressing a kiss to his mouth that was only a peck and smiling at him. “I’m not ready.” 

If Chanyeol had anything to say about that, or had a problem at all with it, Baekhyun didn’t see anything but a dimple popping out on his cheek. “Okay. Let’s watch a movie or something, cub.”   
  


******

  
Baekhyun was nervous even though he didn’t actually have much reason to be, at least not _yet._

He still had a while before school started, before he'd have to trudge through Junior year as the new kid.

At least he had _real friends_ now.

And a _boyfriend._

A very sweet and attentive and _apparently_ popular boyfriend.

Baekhyun didn't know that, but he did now, and wasn't that shocked. 

He'd received his school schedule in the mail only a few days ago, and him being the worry wart he was planning on walking to town to find his classes so he didn’t look like a _complete_ idiot his first day. 

Of course his boyfriend strongly disagreed with that and like parrots the rest of the group had hounded on Baekhyun about being _stupid and going alone._

Baekhyun loved the others, he really did - even if Jongin tossed him around more than he should - but he was happy to just have _Chanyeol_ time too, because it was rare.

Even in the smaller’s home he found it was going to be rare as the _one time_ he’d actually had the confidence to try and start _something_ with Chanyeol in the comfort of his own room Zitao had come in throwing chips at them and alerting everyone that they were “ _making out! Alert, Chanyeol is harassing the puppy!”_

And that’s how _that_ went, the two of them separated across the room while everyone played video games and them screaming bloody murder when Chanyeol tried to get close to him.

It seemed like more a punishment for the taller than anything, and Baekhyun never understood their threats of _“if you don’t be nice to me, I’ll hide Baekhyun from you,”_ but it seemed to piss Chanyeol off a million times over.

Well, seemed like their only make out session the first day of dating would be _it_ if the others wouldn’t stop acting like Baekhyun was a baby that needed protecting.

A kiss to his cheek interrupted his thoughts and Baekhyun huffed out a heavy and nervous breath as he realized they’d pulled up to the high school. 

It would have only been a twenty minute walk, but Baekhyun knew Chanyeol wouldn’t just let him walk through the cold like this.

“It’s really not that big.” 

Baekhyun nodded stiffly and unbuckled himself, not even surprised Chanyeol acted like it was a race to get out first and get his door for him. 

He pretended to be interested in the race usually too, pretending to jump out before the other just so he’d pout, but he was too nervous to do so.

Why were there _so many_ people here?

Why was it that even when school wasn’t out high schoolers gathered in the parking lot, sitting on their cars and throwing sodas around like it was some party.

Baekhyun just wanted to see his classes for fucksake.

“Gotcha.” Chanyeol said in his ear, pulling Baekhyun’s sweater over his hips yet it was odd of him to just _hold him._

Baekhyun felt him press into his front, one arm coming around his back to pull them flush together and his lips were already slightly parted in shock when Chanyeol grabbed his chin in order to connect their lips.

He didn’t figure Chanyeol to be the possessive type at all, much less wanting to be possessive of _him_ given he didn’t look that great and wasn’t dressed worth being possessive over like some of the crop top wearing girls he’d seen standing in a bed of a truck.

He just wore a simple grey beanie because Chanyeol always gave his beanies to him, a light purple sweatshirt, and plain jeans pulled over rain boots, his coat sitting in Chanyeol’s car.

It wasn’t exactly a _look at me_ worthy outfit.

Yet Chanyeol was biting his bottom lip and he felt his back hit the car door and the taller was trying to make out with him right _here_ in front of _all these people._

Baekhyun was blushing and knew so yet he really didn’t care to do much more than _accept_ the attention.

Chanyeol seemed to be enjoying himself more than normal at it, and Baekhyun even felt a smirking grin on the others face when the _murmurs_ started.

_Park has a boyfriend?_

_Holy shit, is he hot? I can’t see!_

_Since when does Park add to his crew?_

_Forget that! Since when is he getting babes?_

“You’re not nervous now.” 

Baekhyun swallowed as he felt Chanyeol fixing the glasses and beanie over his ears, the smile on the tallers face and it only made the smaller blush as he noticed the slickness of Chanyeol's bottom lip. 

“Come on, baby,” Chanyeol chuckled, grabbing around his hips and holding him in such a _possessive_ way and near his ass that he knew if the others were here it would just be _“Alert! Alert! Chanyeol is harassing the puppy!”_ even if Baekhyun very much liked it.

“They… Chanyeol.” Baekhyun reached up to tug the tallers shirt, hiding his cheek against him, “They’re all looking.” 

“That’s fine.” 

Baekhyun whined at the comment, gently hitting Chanyeol's side.

“Hey! I’m just saying it’s fine because _I_ want them to stare, my pretty ma-boyfriend. You’re so cute Baekhyunnie.” 

“You’re embarrassing me,” The smaller whined, clutching Chanyeol's top and shaking it to annoy him, “Stop!” 

Chanyeol laughed, moving his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders to pull him closer and kiss his forehead, “If you keep acting this cute then we won’t be able to make it to the movie later _or_ find your classes.” 

With a pouty huff and dramatic stomp, Baekhyun looked up at him with glasses slightly tilted on his nose, “And why _not,_ Yeollie?” 

He didn’t know what he did. Maybe it was how he said it, how he looked or pouted, but Chanyeol _grinned_ really wide and was doing his creepy staring thing.

Baekhyun was just about to complain about the stare that made his stomach jump and do gymnastics, but Chanyeol had pulled him out of the narrow walkway and into a row of outdoor lockers, pressing him against them. “Do it again.” 

“I-I don't… _Chan,”_ Baekhyun whined as he was flustered and it didn’t help that Chanyeol was hiding his head in his neck so he couldn’t see his reactions, “I don’t _know.”_

Chanyeol made a sniffing noise into his neck as he pulled back to cup his face, thumbs smoothing over his cheeks, “You could have done anything. You’re just so _fucking_ cute.” 

Baekhyun didn’t think he’d learn where his classes were today, because Chanyeol was kissing the life out of him, and for once he knew they weren’t going to be forced to stop.

******

Baekhyun was upset.

He hadn’t heard from any of his friends at all today, and he felt like he was being ignored.

 _Every_ Friday they met up to hang out, every Friday they did something together so he’d woken up expecting the same as every Friday he’d had here the past four months.

With school around the corner it was making him even more paranoid about being left out.

He knew they were all friends for well, for as long as they could remember.

He’d heard the stories, all about how Chanyeol used to go back and forth a lot, like when he was younger he knew that Chanyeol switched between here and a big city with his parents.

And when he’d turned fifteen, he stayed here _permanently._

Baekhyun always assumed they’d just meant he’d moved in with his uncle finally seeing as Chanyeol never really mentioned his parents and seemed perfectly content to only talk about Minseok and Luhan.

Apparently, Baekhyun would learn he truly knew _nothing_ at all.

Sick and tired of all his messages going unread, Baekhyun took it into his own hands and grabbed the keys as his father slept.

It didn’t matter, as it was late out and his father had done a thirteen hour shift - there was no way he’d be up.

Truthfully, he was pissed off and expected if _anyone_ that Chanyeol would pick up his calls and now it was nearly dark out and still no responses and -

 _Oh great,_ it was pouring rain.

Baekhyun cursed under his breath as his glasses got filled with droplets, sliding into the car and groaning when he noticed the window was cracked and thus water was all down the side of the door on the inside.

Just his luck.

Still, he powered on, mostly looking forward to being toasty warm as he knew his boyfriend would be.

It was only a few minute drive, so Baekhyun didn’t bother getting too comfy in the car, plowing through mud with his phone and an extra pair of pajamas resting in the passenger seat.

Perhaps he was getting a little _too_ comfortable at Chanyeol's, but literally _everyone_ did.

Unfortunately, today didn’t seem to be anything good at all as Baekhyun heard yelling before he even pulled close enough to see anything.

The porch light at Chanyeol's house was bright, and still through all the rain gathering on the windows Baekhyun couldn’t see clearly what was happening. 

_“Stop! Sehun stop! You have to stop!”_

Baekhyun frowned as the yelling continued, the youngest must be joking too much or _something,_ but then again he’d never seen Sehun pull a prank that had others screaming at him.

_Likely because it was no prank._

_“We know it hurts, but you have to calm down! Calm down, you knew it would be like this!”_

A high pitched _shriek_ was what made Baekhyun burst from the car, he stomped through mud and was surprised nobody had noticed his headlights as he got close enough.

But they obviously had much bigger problems.

A thin, grey haired wolf was shrieking and whimpering noises Baekhyun had only heard from his old dog when accidentally stepping on his foot, such pained noises.

With a hand above his brow to try and get rid of the rain congregating on his glasses, he came closer to the group standing in the front clearing beside the tree line.

“Sehun!” Chanyeol yelled, hands up towards the wolf, “Fucking _stop!_ Chill! Chill or it hurts more!”

Baekhyun observed the scene with his mouth parted in shock, watching as Kris and Yixing flanked the wolf and blocked his escape.

But, just as Baekhyun shuffled a little closer a _growl_ rang out from the wolf, it’s eyes turning on him and it was _still_ painfully crying even as it hissed and snarled at him.

“Sehun, what-“

“That’s _Sehun!”_ Baekhyun screamed in disbelief, pointing at the creature and it was then the three noticed his presence with Chanyeol standing between him and the snarling wolf. “What-“

“Baekhyun?” 

“Baekhyun, you need to leave!” Kris ordered, pointing at him and shaking his head with a stern expression.

Baekhyun nearly scoffed although his eyes were gathering with tears and blurring his vision, he could control his pack of _dogs,_ but not him.

“Fuck you!” The human yelled, “Are you telling me this is supposed to be _Sehun? The kid I know?”_

He was shaking with angry tears and from the cold, but he couldn’t really tell what was what or what was going on because he was so pissed.

“Baby-“

 _“You!”_ Baekhyun screamed, veins popping out on his neck as he pointed an angry finger at Chanyeol, “Fuck _you_ and your stupid fucking secrets and your fucking-“

Sehun bolted from his place scrambling between the three, doing a jump towards Baekhyun and biting at the air and the human _screamed._

This was nothing like before. This was nothing like the other brown haired wolf with a toothy grin and that wanted belly rubs. 

Baekhyun fell into the wet grass, scrambling back and breath catching as he began to hyperventilate and within a second he was watching through the rain as Chanyeol grabbed the wolf by its scruff like it weighed _nothing._

He tossed Sehun away with pure rage, and Baekhyun had never seen him quite as mad before, “You do that again I’ll kill you!” 

_“Sehun, control it! Control it - don’t! He can and will kill you if you don’t control yourself!”_ Yixing sounded terrified, and any other time Baekhyun would be rushing to see why, only now he was trying not to pass out in fear.

Because Sehun _didn’t_ listen. 

Baekhyun didn’t know what to think - ten minutes ago he’d been wondering if they’d watch movies tonight and now he was digesting shapeshifting, or black magic or perhaps… _werewolves?_

And now, as Sehun yelped and came running at him from across the grass again, fangs exposed, Chanyeol was jumping in the air, grabbing the wolf and before Baekhyun could wipe the rain from his glasses the other was replaced with a fully grown _wolf._

The same exact one that sat in the forest with him for _hours._

Baekhyun released a loud _sob_ of betrayal because this _wasn’t_ a secret you could just throw on someone and expect them to live with, this wasn’t something so _simple._

He was _afraid now._

And when he’d released the noise the large brown wolf whined in a high pitched tone.

Baekhyun must be the most gullible person alive, he must be and they all knew it.

Feeling so lonely and needing friends made him ignore all the _weird noises_ they made, all the food they ate, all the playing in the woods that Baekhyun heard of but had never joined in. 

Chanyeol had shoved a fist through solid _steel_ for fucksake and had managed to convince him to laugh it off and forget about it. 

How fucking pathetic was he? Who even got a tattoo at age sixteen?

Baekhyun had just thought he’d gotten _lucky._ That finally he found genuine people.

Maybe nothing about them had been genuine at all.

As he pressed his mouth into his knees, curled in a ball and vision filled with rain he saw Kris shake his head at him, an apologetic look in his eyes before he _too_ was shifting into this _creature_ and barking at Sehun.

Must be the leader because Sehun started running into the woods as if he hadn’t just been slammed into the ground.

Yixing too looked tearful as he looked at Baekhyun with wide eyes and lips pressed together, a begging expression before he dipped into the trees to follow them.

Baekhyun just cried, and he continued crying without even wondering where Chanyeol had gone.

At least not until his lips were turning blue and there was a familiar, large palm wrapping around his arm to pull him up.

He allowed the other to do as much only because he didn’t think he could find his own footing, and the rain felt like it was weighing him down. 

“Hey. Sh, Baekhyun. Stop crying, sh.” Chanyeol was wearing different pants than he’d been before, topless now, pressing his face close in order to be heard through the storm and holding his face.

“Please stop crying. Please stop crying, it’s hurting me, stop please. Bae-Baekhyun _stop.”_ Chanyeol’s own voice cracked and it suggested the other was worked up too, and Baekhyun didn’t _want_ such a thing.

There was no reason to be upset because you were _guilty._

“Fuck you.” Baekhyun whispered although he didn't try to move but he also didn’t try to do much more than let his hands dangle at his sides and try and glare through his glasses.

Wolves had good _vision_ so he was sure Chanyeol could see his expression just _fine._

And Chanyeol did, he could and flinched at that, a look on his face of pain and Baekhyun didn’t understand it because it looked _genuine._

His own thoughts pissed him off because he wasn’t going to break and bend because some boy he thought he was _in love with_ was crying.

“Were you _ever_ going to tell me this! Ever? What the fuck is- what’s wrong with you!” Baekhyun burst with anger, voice slightly screeching as he shoved Chanyeol hard in the chest.

He barely even moved and that pissed him off _more_ because he was now just a weak, gullible _human._

“What is wrong with _you!”_ He cried, ripping the tallers hands from his face, “You fucking tricked _me?_ What did I ever do to _you!”_

“It’s not-“ Chanyeol tried to grab his face and Baekhyun shoved his hand back away from him, “- Baekhyun it’s not _like that.”_ He said in a tone one would use as if trying to soothe an upset child and it only pissed Baekhyun off. 

“You and your fucking secrets, you and your fucking pack of fucking _dogs,”_ Baekhyun was raging as he twisted to try and stomp towards his car although the deep puddles made it a slow and agonizing journey.

“Baekhyun!”

Something about the suffering in his voice made Baekhyun stop, and he told himself it was his own choice and _not_ because he felt bad. 

“B-Baek-Baekhyun,” Chanyeol stood there crying, lip trembling as he grasped his own hair tightly, “I need, I need you to stop and listen for a second, okay? Please, please. P-Please.”

Baekhyun didn’t nod yes or no, he didn’t move an inch other than to cover his mouth with his hand because the rain would wash away his obvious signs of silently wailing, but him sucking in for air and mouth contorted in a silent scream would give it away.

“Listen, please just..” Chanyeol turned and ducked down into a ball, hands grasping the back of his head completely panic stricken as he crouched down in the grass with Baekhyun four feet away. “... it’s _not,_ not.. we were going to tell you… eventually. There are… there are things we have to be sure of before.. before then.” 

“Like _what?”_ Baekhyun cried, removing his hand to point at him accusingly, “Like…if I could keep a secret? Is _that_ why Minseok kept asking such weird questions after I saw you in the woods! _So what’d you do this weekend, Baekhyun? See anything cool? Exciting?”_ He spat, visually weak as his knees trembled, “If I wanted to tell, I would have _told!_ And I didn’t even know it was _you!_ I have the heart to… to not want a random _wolf_ killed and you think _maybe I’d get you killed?”_

“I know!” Chanyeol screamed, “I know, I know! I’m… i'm sorry - I’m sorry - B-Baekhyun, you really _don’t_ understand - you… you can’t go, please don’t go. Don't go- don’t“

“And _why_ should I n-not go! You complete- completely - you…” Baekhyun gasped for breath as he physically choked on his tears, “- You broke my _trust!_ You broke my heart, you just… was this a _joke?_ I told you- I told you that I hated to be… be.. ridiculed and lied to, and.. and then you hide _this, I can’t Chanyeol. I can’t jus-“_

“I love you! I love you, don’t go!” Chanyeol was then hurrying towards him, “You have to- you.. you’re my mate and _have_ to… stay, have to - you can’t-“

He was hyperventilating, physically running short on breath and it must be a feat considering a wolf was known for its stamina.

Baekhyun couldn’t do much when Chanyeol wrapped strong arms around him and began to cry into his neck.

He let him cry, because he was crying too.

And he let him apologize, even if he didn’t accept it.

And then, Baekhyun squirmed, face pink from sobbing and tears continuing to be mixed with rain as he couldn’t tell if what was on his face was his own tears or not.

“Let me go, Chanyeol.” 

_“Please.”_

“Let me go right now.” 

_“Chanyeol!”_ Came a faint yell in the distance.

Baekhyun cried harder as the wolf grasped onto his shirt and bent knees as if he couldn’t hold them up anymore, “Let me _go.”_

“Chanyeol,” This time it was closer and Baekhyun wasn’t able to raise his head to the couple that stood near them because he was just so _weak._ “Chanyeol. He said to let go.” Luhan stated.

Another second passed and Baekhyun opened his mouth to demand again, but everytime he did it was growing weaker and less strong.

“Chanyeol, your mate said to let him go, right _now.”_ Minseok hissed and like _that_ Chanyeol was sinking down to the grass at his feet.

Baekhyun didn’t even look at Minseok even though he could _feel_ the parental staring - that look an adult had that said _we need to talk._

He turned and ran to the car.

******

“No.” 

Baekhyun tried to slam the door shut again, but there was no way in the world he could go up against a _werewolf._

Hell, Kyungsoo alone could glare at him and he’d wished he’d died.

“You look like shit, cupcake.” 

Baekhyun internally hissed as the other shoved passed him and into his house like he owned the place, instantly storming upstairs to his room and making the human groan and rush to catch up.

Of course he looked like shit - he _felt_ like shit too.

The past week and a half he’d just locked himself in his room and cried himself to sleep, skipping meals and showers and just _wasting away._

He’d heard that heartbreak healed over time, yet he didn’t feel healed even the slightest.

Especially not when said heartbreak included all the friends he’d ever had.

“Gross. Smells like toothpaste in here - that what you’re eating these days?” Kyungsoo complained, throwing dirty clothes off the floor and into his hamper by the dresser.

Baekhyun was sure he was trying to be _funny,_ but it wasn’t helping even the slightest.

He only rolled his eyes and plopped into his bed face first, not even bothering with his glasses even when they made a crackling noise of warning at the pressure.

“So it’s like that, huh? I come over here as a friend and you’re just gonna ignore me?”

“Didn't know you could still be friends with _humans.”_ Baekhyun grumbled into the blanket, muffled but now he knew it was a fact that the other could hear him clear as day.

“Hey. Don’t act like we haven’t tried. It’s not like we’re gonna sprout fangs and attack you, we’ve been at your door everyday and you refuse to unlock it.”

“First of all,” Baekhyun rolled over onto his back to stare at the ceiling, releasing an annoyed grunt when Kyungsoo yanked a dirty hoodie out from under him on his mission to apparently _clean his room or some shit,_ “Sehun already tried that. Secondly, every time you showed up.. he…” 

Kyungsoo suddenly stopped his fussing over his dirty room and leaned over the bed to look down at him, ruffling his hair, looking both nervous and apologetic, “Sehun was having a first shift. Non-wolf smells heighten aggression. He’s fine now and trust me, feels like _shit.”_

“He would have killed me.” 

“Would have, but _didn’t._ There’s no goddamn _way_ he would have gotten close enough. He’d have been roadkill by the time he got within a foot, Chanyeol would have slung him right up, it’s a territory feud then.” Kyungsoo whistled to himself as he pictured the thought and twisted to take a seat on the side of his bed, “Would've knocked the wolf right outta him. Sehun had no chance, you were safe the entire time.” 

Baekhyun mumbled that he didn't _feel that way_ under his breath, but chose to ignore the way Kyungsoo twisted his lips at it and looked guilty.

“Anyway,” The younger started up again after a minute of silence, “Chanyeol w-“

“Can we not talk about him please.” 

It caused his heart to squeeze painfully and his eyes instantly water and he’d spent so long crying that it hurt to even _think_ about crying right now.

“Baek, I really… I-it’s not my place to say anything. It’s not _any_ of our places. Really it… Chanyeol is a fucking _idiot._ He’s paranoid, he’s anxious, he’s a perfectionist and things didn’t go how he wanted them too. 

I know you won’t believe me, hell, we’ve never had your experiences in life. We’ve been a pack since we could remember, and never had to deal with what you’ve had to, but I can promise and I can _swear_ to you that _anything. Anything_ you are going through right now hits him more than five times what it hits you with. 

This was no _joke._ This was no problem. You’re betrayed, we get it and we’re sorry - but that doesn’t change how things went down. That doesn’t change that you’re my friend even if I’m in Chanyeol's pack and it doesn’t change that sometimes… sometimes we just want to _be your friend,_ okay? 

I didn’t.. I wasn’t asked to come here. I wasn’t told to check on you - none of us were or are. This is purely us being your friend even if you decide wolf fur all over your room isn’t the way to go.” 

Baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut to try and keep the tears at bay, arm sprawling across his eyes as he gulped, “What is a _mate?”_

“You to Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo said instantly, tone suggesting he approved of the sudden want to talk even if the topic wasn’t exactly helpful in trying to keep the human from crying. 

The wolf shifted to stand up and Baekhyun rolled over to watch his pacing because Kyungsoo when worked up or explaining always consisted of a lot of movement. “It’s like.. grey wolves, they mate for life - one partner and that’s all for them - it’s like a form of that but…” He clicked his tongue and scrunched his face in thought, “... okay, okay. Take this for instance. Humans, they cycle through relationships. One day they think it’s love and the next it’s diminished as quick as it came. That’s not mating, it’s not even love them, it’s just… lust. 

Mates are much more than that. They differentiate things in a way that… normal couples can’t relate to. You feel _Chanyeol_ at a level that humans can’t reach, and he… again, it’s much more for us - for him. You might think it’s love, but I can guarantee you that for him it was _life_ the second you got pummeled into in the forest.” 

“If it’s so important,” Baekhyun cried silently, blanket pulled up to his lips, “Then why wasn’t I trusted immediately.” 

Kyungsoo gritted his teeth, but it was more of a stiff action rather than irritated, like he wasn’t sure how much could be said before he was dipping into territory he shouldn’t. “In the end, you’re still _human,_ Baekhyun. Different. New. None of us had to accept a human before, it’s only natural just like how you aren’t trusting _us_ because we’re different and _new.”_

“I can’t _change_ what I am. I would have accepted it if only I was told.” 

And it was too much now, obvious in the way Kyungsoo began to look overwhelmingly sorry, but he just watched Baekhyun cry and didn’t say anything more.

There was a grey line unable to be crossed because the issue wasn’t really _between_ him and the others.

It was just him and Chanyeol, because Baekhyun was understanding that there was a level of possessiveness and as Kyungsoo said he was _territory._

What Chanyeol said went when it involved Baekhyun, and it was _his_ choice. It was his doing.

“Hey. Do me a favor, please.” Kyungsoo murmured, barely touching him as he placed Baekhyun’s cell phone down beside him, “Text Junmyeon back, he’s been threatening to storm in. Don’t.. you can just.. just ignore _his_ texts if that’s what you decide to do, but at least send a message for the others letting them know you’re… still alive in here.” 

Baekhyun sucked his lip into his mouth and nodded, wiping under his glasses at his tears. 

“And uh.. give Luhan or Minseok a text, would you? They're… having a hard time dealing with _him._ But have been wanting to stop by.. it’s.. I’m not saying you’re doing the wrong thing, Baekhyun. That’s on _you_ and that’s your own past that’s manipulating your decisions, but I’m only saying… if it feels this painful, is it really the _best_ choice?”

Baekhyun watched Kyungsoo send him a tense smile before turning to walk out the door, listening to him trudge down the stairs until he heard the front door shut.

His phone lit up with a new message not even a second later, blinking on top of an alert that said _259 unread messages._

**_‘Tomorrow Yixing is coming by. He’s sensitive, so please eat something. And yes, we can hear your stomach rumbling, puppy.’_ **

Baekhyun sighed and turned to reach for his half eaten granola bar on his side table.

******

  
They did this nearly every night now.

Baekhyun was surprised based on everything he’d heard that Chanyeol lasted this long, but he preferred things like this.

Somewhere in between being babied and forced to shower, forced to eat, and forced to nap, Baekhyun noticed what the others were doing - well, everyone minus Sehun as he was truthfully still frightened of the _events_ of weeks ago - they were influencing but not in a bad way.

Just small comments amongst themselves that they might not even realize they were doing, ones that made Baekhyun sometimes cry on the spot but refuse to tell them why.

_Jun. When do you think we can have a pack meeting again, all of us?_

_He’s looking pretty skinny, not as bad as him though._

_Make sure he doesn’t try to eavesdrop later - I can’t handle another fight. He always was the strongest._

Was Chanyeol as bad as him? 

He didn’t know and couldn’t bring himself to scroll past the most recent of messages from the other, although by now it was hundreds of them.

It showed when he was looking at the most recent ones that came up, three little dots on the screen, and he could see that sometimes Chanyeol would be on too, maybe writing something.

But he never sent things when Baekhyun was reading, and yet when Baekhyun locked his phone and the three dots left he would receive messages instantly. 

Some simple, like ‘ _hi’._ Some were just photos of random things with no caption, because they used to send those sort of things to each other.

Sometimes they were sweet, like _‘I never told you, but you smell like cinnamon, that’s why in the forest I was overwhelmed, because it was really strong then.’_

And Baekhyun would cry but wouldn’t respond, just leaving his thumb sitting on the screen.

It felt like this in a way - like how suddenly every night he noticed a large, dark brown wolf laying in the clearing, a view straight up to his bedroom window.

Baekhyun didn’t know when he’d started doing that, but he’d only noticed two weeks ago.

He was really far away, so Baekhyun couldn’t see him the best, couldn’t see how his fur was knotted up or how his brown eyes were dull.

But he knew Chanyeol could see him fine. More than fine even, because the first time he noticed him he’d begun to cry and as soon as tears fell down his face the wolf ran away.

That’s how it normally tended to go.

But sometimes they just stared, Baekhyun from up high, sitting in his window with his knees under his chin while he looked out the window, and Chanyeol from down low with a large jaw resting on his front paws and tail curled up behind him.

And that’s just how it _was._

And yet nothing was being fixed other than the fact that Baekhyun was so guilty yet so _upset._

He didn’t know how to feel anymore. How to react.

On one hand Sehun nearly killed him over a secret that never needed to be kept in the first place - and on top of that Baekhyun was to be life mated to a wolf forever - that wasn’t something you waited _months to tell someone._ And what was Chanyeol thinking - the longer he would have waited the more angry Baekhyun would have been.

On the other, it was all about the amount of happiness he had when with them, and how he’d torn their dynamics apart. 

They didn’t do pack meetings anymore apparently, Jongdae said they were pointless unless all _twelve_ of them were there and that they didn’t feel the same, Baekhyun felt guilty.

They didn’t hang out much at all at Chanyeol's house and from what Baekhyun gathered it was because the other wasn’t coping well but he wasn’t _either,_ yet he must have been much better because his house had three of them minimum babying him every morning, Baekhyun felt guilty.

Baekhyun dreamed of Chanyeol, of their dates and just sometimes a _smile_ because he just _loved him_ and that was putting the expression simply.

Things weren’t fair because when he thought he’d made the right choice he couldn’t be too sure, because even now his heart was racing out of his chest and this time Chanyeol didn’t instantly make a mad escape to run away when he started crying.

Baekhyun leaned against the window, cheek flush to the glass and Chanyeol was still there, watching.

It was hard to be forgiving when the one time Baekhyun stood up for himself happened to feel like such a bad choice. 

But at the same time, if in Chanyeol's shoes, _was there really anything to forgive?_

A lifelong secret versus lifelong trauma.

Baekhyun didn’t know that his perspective was fully reliable, and he didn’t know if Chanyeol's perspective fully understood the amount of depression and bullying he’d experienced in the past.

He just didn’t know anything anymore.

Baekhyun licked the tears that kissed the corners of his mouth, shifting against the glass when Chanyeol howled. 

_What a dangerous thing to be doing outside of a rangers house._

Baekhyun opened his mouth and laughed tearfully, hand pressing to the glass and sniffing up tears to _laugh_ with shoulders shaking and only then did Chanyeol take off running. 

  
******

Things went on like that for a month at least, Baekhyun not seeing him and trying to convince himself he didn’t _want to,_ staring at the wolf through the window until Chanyeol ran off.

But he didn’t ever _see_ him really. He didn’t go out of his way to come to him nor did he have the other show up at his door - Baekhyun originally was happy about that, but as time passed he really couldn’t be happy about anything at all.

Especially not school.

Today, he was venturing into the world of _school_ again. 

It wasn’t that bad.

The school was really tiny and even though Baekhyun felt like shit, he’d still wanted to make a good first impression and did his hair and made sure he had concealer and brown eyeliner on even though he was aware his glasses sort of blocked it.

He just didn’t want to feel like he’d been hit by a bus as he had the past month.

Being the new kid would have been much _worse_ if he didn’t already know people, and so far he’d been steered to his classes by one of his friends and it was nice even though he felt people staring at him.

He’d thought it was them helping him because he was paranoid about the new school, but now he was slowly recognizing that it wasn’t just that.

It was because they were keeping him away from others - students that winked at him and ones that looked over excited to see a new kid - but namely _Chanyeol._

If he knew that’s what they were doing he would have waited outside his classroom at the end of the day until one of them walked by, but Baekhyun being Baekhyun and being completely oblivious _didn’t_ do that.

It was a tiny place and he found his locker all by himself (because he and Chanyeol actually never made it past the outside, Freshman lockers, during their stop here last time.) 

So, he was shoving things in and not paying attention to the blabbering and hushed whispers he could hear floating around.

Occasionally, people asked him questions, his name, where he came from, but not really much else and that was uncomfortable in itself.

There were always eyes Baekhyun could feel into the back of his head though, and it was always _Kris._

Kris who he was nearly completely sure was some sort of cult ringleader or something. Okay, he had nothing against the other but was just passive aggressively smacking him for staring at him every time they saw each other, without a word.

It felt judgemental, but Baekhyun always felt he was being judged by the wolves right now anyways. 

And right now was no different, Baekhyun felt the eyes and twisted to look at the Senior. 

He wasn’t doing anything, just leaning against the lockers and Junmyeon was rambling something likely uninteresting, but Kris just raised a brow at him, like it was some sort of challenge.

Baekhyun was honestly _pissed off_ at the look, he wasn’t one of the others and he wasn’t going to just let him get away with bothering him in the most _unbothering_ way.

Baekhyun was defensive - of course he was - and he was going to walk over there and smack him sideways.

And just as he was convincing himself to do so, Sehun's head of brown hair came around the corner, laughing loudly and likely pissing off Kyungsoo (he always kind of looked pissed off though, so who knew).

His heart didn’t start racing again, he’d had plenty of days to differentiate _this_ Sehun with that one.

Baekhyun saw Jongin point towards him wide eyed and it must have been towards him because Sehun's head snapped up to look at him at an amazing speed. 

Along with everyone else’s.

He was begging, apologetic, guilty, devastated - Sehun didn’t need to be, because Baekhyun didn’t understand much about wolves, but he didn’t _blame him._

If anything, he realized if he hadn’t wolfed out then he wouldn’t have known a thing.

Sehun looked like he was stepping forward to walk down the hall towards him, but Kris put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him and Baekhyun would _kill_ to have super hearing to know what they were saying.

Other students were loud even though school was done, sticking around to meet up with their friends and Baekhyun wanted them gone so he could hear.

And suddenly, he wanted _a lot_ of other things gone as well when deep brown hair popped out from around the corner across from the pack.

There was no word to explain anything other than _sick._

Baekhyun physically felt sick when Chanyeol walked over to the others, looking rather oblivious to their dilemma.

He didn’t wear a smile at all, his face was neutral, yet sunken and thin. He looked awfully pale for someone originally so tan from being outside and even from the side Baekhyun could see the line of bags under his eyes.

He looked sick, depressed. He didn’t look like _Chanyeol_ at all.

His hands held his backpack straps near his waist, and even his fingers looked frail. 

Baekhyun didn’t know what was happening because he was sick to his stomach and felt tears pooling in his eyes - he didn’t know if it was guilt or if it was happiness purely because he’d missed him _so_ much.

Chanyeol turned to look at him, Baekhyun didn’t get to catch his expression because he was _running_ away.

The new kid running out of school like a chicken with it's head cut off must be an odd sight, but Baekhyun didn’t _care._

He just felt like doing _nothing_ but hiding because he didn’t deserve anything but to be alone.

It wasn’t that Chanyeol looked like he was dying, sick definitely, but he was a wolf and obviously some of that accounted for his form still being broad and still having muscles, but it was the unnatural skinniness that Baekhyun was unused to seeing.

He was muscular while being a healthy size that made his cheeks round under Baekhyun’s hand but now he was muscular purely because his genes forced it to stay that way, cheeks flat and eyes looking dull.

It wasn’t Chanyeol.

Baekhyun’s backpack flopped on his back with every jump over trees, going into the forest because he’d much rather be there where nobody went. 

He didn’t even know where he was going anymore - he wasn’t on a trail and he didn’t know the way home without the rock path, and in his panic and tears he just continued _going_ as if he knew it all.

Baekhyun’s nose was running and his lungs were hurting and he just _kept_ running. 

Until he couldn’t anymore and found a clean area of grass to lay down in to _scream_ and _cry_ and sob his eyes out because he didn’t deserve to feel bad when he did that to Chanyeol - it was his fault. Everything was his fault.

And so he laid there, backpack still on and flat on his back watching squirrels jump from trees.

He didn’t want to see anything. He didn’t deserve to, and Baekhyun flung his glasses away from him, vision now blurry unless something was within a foot of him.

Good. He deserved it.

Baekhyun didn’t know if it was that time was passing by extremely quickly or if he’d fallen asleep.

It must have been the second because when he opened his eyes next everything was dark.

And he was _freezing cold._

His clothes were frozen through so much so that just moving his hand into his jacket made him shake, and he was _blind_ he couldn’t see and now he had zero chances of finding his glasses in the dark.

“Stupid! Stupid!” Baekhyun screamed at himself, teeth clambering together as he sat up and tried to hold himself together.

Even touching his hands together felt like ice burning his skin.

“I’m a-a g-g-goddamn _i-idiot.”_

Must be considering he’d fucked up so many things within such a little amount of time.

Baekhyun was just _fucked up._

His breath came out in puffs of white and it stung to clench his fists together.

At least it wasn’t _raining_ today.

He swore if it began raining while he was lost in the woods he’d call it the end.

Clenching his eyes shut and hugging himself he could only keep still. 

“Baekhyun!”

_“Baek!”_

“Baekhyun!”

He jolted at the yelling, it was from a ways away but he couldn’t have been more relieved in his life, throat dry from both crying and the freezing air as he raised his head and blindly yelled, “H-H-ere! He-ere!”

It wasn’t that loud, but he knew it would be heard.

And it was.

There were a multitude of footsteps and the sound of _paws_ running through the leaves and Baekhyun didn’t move a muscle because he couldn’t see well, but heard a loud whimper.

There was soft fur rubbing up against his side then, climbing all over his lap and it was too small to be Chanyeol.

Likely because it wasn’t, it was a smaller, grey wolf that yelped louder, alerting and whimpered as he rubbed into his cold face. 

Baekhyun had never been happier to see Sehun as a wolf in his life.

His teeth chattered so loudly he didn’t risk trying to speak as he duck his hands and face into Sehun’s fur, curling under his stomach and probably clenching his fur too tightly, but he was so _warm._

Rapid footsteps came and he could make out flashlights. He wondered why they were using them l when they could see in the dark.

Or at least them as _wolves_ could, Baekhyun wasn’t really sure if much these days.

“Fuck, everyone.. turn around and go tell the rangers we got him before they come shooting at Sehun,” He heard Kris boom, ordering loud and clear.

“Baekhyun, don’t you ever run off like this again, it's nearly midnight-“

“Not the time, _Junmyeon.”_ Came a deep and heated voice, and Baekhyun didn’t do anything when he was shifted off from practically climbing onto Sehun's back, because he was being placed somewhere much warmer.

“Let’s go. Sehun, go shift.” 

Baekhyun heard them leaving, but he just made a pained noise when his fingers were being clasped between large and warm palms causing them to burn at the temperature change, balled up in Chanyeol's lap and pressed into his chest. 

“Where - Oh, Baekhyun. Baekhyun, _Baekhyun,”_ Chanyeol was frantic and was breathing into his red hands, Baekhyun could see him at this close of a distance, but occasionally he leaned back out of view and things got blurrier.

“Fuck. Fu- let me-“ 

Baekhyun made a dry noise in his throat as Chanyeol released his freezing hands, not caring _where_ they were going; he shoved them around the others hips, trying to find a place to warm them up but Chanyeol was removing the backpack from his shoulders, “I know. Just a second, baby, just calm down. I know, I know - god, you’re almost blue,” He cried, removing his own long sleeve to fit over Baekhyun’s head, not bothering with the arm holes as he just wrapped him tightly in his arms. 

_“-m-m s-s-or-ry.”_

“Stop, sh, don’t. Don't. You’re going to bite your tongue. Stop.” Chanyeol whispered, pressing his forehead to Baekhyun’s and his warm face into a freezing one.

He unwrapped one of his hands to hold his cheek, thumb smoothing over his icy nose and expression contorted tearfully, eyes welled up at the smallers state, “Can you even see me?” He mumbled teasingly, but his voice caught up with his tearful expression quickly.

Still, Baekhyun tried to smile but was sure it was more a grimace when his entire body refused to stop shivering and his jaw felt like it was vibrating with his fast it was chattering. 

“I - s-“

“Stop it, stop. Sh. I love you. I love you and that’s it. That’s all, okay, just stop. You’re in enough pain right now.” 

Baekhyun disagreed wholeheartedly, but couldn’t find anything to even attempt to say and felt like even when he squeezed out some tears they burned his skin. 

“Okay, okay. A blanket, let’s get you to a heater - fuck, I don’t. Don't.. Baekhyun, don’t you do this ever again, I thought - I..” Chanyeol shifted from the ground and manually had to adjust the smaller to fit his legs around his hips, having to clutch him to his chest with his shirt hanging around Baekhyun’s back and the human trying to take all his warmth. If he could give it, he would. “.. you could have died, don’t you - don’t scare me like this. I couldn’t ..couldn’t shift, rangers are here and.. and your dad said he was waiting for you and you never came home.” 

Baekhyun was confused why his father would even be home, but legitimately couldn’t say so. 

“You can’t _understand_ how afraid I was when he knocked on the door, you never went home. Your stuff wasn’t there, what the _fuck,_ Baekhyun.” 

He honestly didn’t care that he was being scolded right now, not if it was _Chanyeol_ speaking to him, carrying him through the forest. 

The other knew the way around perfectly, so Baekhyun didn’t even bother to care about his things left behind or anything more than the fact he was with Chanyeol.

And he kept causing him pain. He kept hurting him.

Baekhyun wasn’t going to be a good mate, he hadn’t thus far, yet he couldn’t sit here and try to say he wished he wasn’t Chanyeol's mate.

Because that would be a _lie_ and he couldn’t even tell him how sorry he was for continuously hurting him. 

If he could speak right now, he would just say that he loved him _too_ because he’d been thinking over that night for a month and the biggest things he regretted were not saying it _back,_ and telling him to let him go.

Baekhyun saw the blurriness of lights as they approached the tree line, the cars he assumed were rangers and he was _surprised_ his father called his coworkers.

Now he needed to make sure they never came back, because he didn’t want any of his pack to get hurt by them.

“You still up? Hey, don’t go to sleep. Not until you’re warm. Don't fall asleep.” Chanyeol ordered in his hair.

Baekhyun twisted his head off his shoulder to press his cold lips into the others throat instead, not quite a kiss, but he hoped it felt like it. 

_“Baekhyun! Oh, oh my god, Baekhyun!”_ His father was yelling, and he sounded so worried.

“I got him. He’s freezing, hypothermia,” The wolf said over his head and Baekhyun didn’t try to do anything about the warm hands touching his hair and back, all over,

 _“Oh, honey, my sweet boy. Baekhyun, you.. you..”_ his father sounded guilty and at a loss for words and Baekhyun would tell him it wasn’t anything to do with him if he could, but he didn’t have to.

“Teenage boys do questionable things when they’re upset,” He heard Minseok say, likely trying to calm his father down, “He probably just took a walk and lost track of time, let’s just get him somewhere warm.” 

There were hands around his back and he felt Chanyeol move his own away and nearly freaked out, scratching his nails into the others bare shoulder and using what little strength he had to bark out a frantic, “Ch-Chan-yeol!” 

The wolf was grasping him tighter than before, instantly, “I’ll take him in, Mr. Byun.” 

Baekhyun didn’t hear a reply and it probably had something to do with hearing a ranger comment, “We found his stuff.” 

He was glad Sehun left long ago, because there was no hesitation for shooting wolves this close to houses.

He kept his head tucked under Chanyeol's chin the entire time, feeling jostled with every step the taller made up the stairs.

Before he knew it he was being laid in his own bed in his own room while his skin burned off the chill.

“No-o!” Baekhyun croaked, clenching red fingers into Chanyeol's pant leg when the taller moved to stand up after he’d just placed him down.

“Hey, sh. I’m just turning the heater up.” 

Baekhyun could barely feel the tears that were dripping into his hairline from lying on his back, but he knew they were there because Chanyeol didn’t waste any time at all before he was back and removing his cold boots.

He removed his socks and began working on his pants, Baekhyun knew he’d be warmer out of cold clothes, but it still felt _weird_ knowing his father could come in any moment. 

No doubt Minseok and Luhan had him wrangled away for a while for them though, and Baekhyun didn’t have a care in the world if he walked in on them because he was frozen and his father was no idiot to the best way to fix that.

Chanyeol _wasn’t_ interested in what Baekhyun would be blushing over if he could, it was obvious in his painful expression as he removed his clothes down to his boxers without really even looking.

The most he did was touch the red of his chest and tilt his head in an angry motion.

“An hour longer and you’d have been an icicle.” Chanyeol commented, pulling a blanket over him and laying over his chest in order to cup his discolored ears and warm them up.

Baekhyun released a shaking breath at all the sudden warmth he had, body slowly settling, but it would take a while for him to feel warm enough to move.

He was going to cry if anyone came up here and tried to remove Chanyeol.

“S-Sorr- _y.”_

For a moment, Chanyeol didn’t respond, but that had to do with him combing his cold strands of hair from his face, but then he just _stared_ and Baekhyun was going to hassle him - if he remembered - why he always did such a look. “We both made mistakes, I hurt you.. you.. hurt me, you’re my mate, Baekhyun, and I’m sorry but I can’t change that and I-I hope you don’t _want to me to change that_ but I just.. even if things aren’t… how they were, I just need to see you every once in a while, okay? Ok-okay, baby? Just for a little while, and I’ll leave you a-alone.” 

Baekhyun didn’t want that at all, he didn’t want to be left alone. He wanted Chanyeol to follow him around like before and constantly be on him, he wanted to sit with him and pretend not to notice wandering hands.

He wanted to have _Friday pack meetings_ only this time he wasn’t the odd one out.

He wanted things to be like before, but different.

Like before, but not in the dark. 

“L-Love you..” Baekhyun sounded horrible, he knew it, and as soon as he could find his breath he’d ask for water because his throat was raw. 

Yet, Chanyeol looked really happy then. His eyes shone differently and they pulled at the corners in a way he only really smiled for Baekhyun, almond shaped eyes just so _ecstatic._

“You can’t imagine how much I love _you,_ Baekhyun.” 

Oh, but Baekhyun felt like he could argue differently.

If only he had more energy, because the gentle peck to the side of his mouth wasn’t _enough._

******

  
“Oh, Chan- Chanyeol, I said no drooling on me!” Baekhyun yelped, a full on pout on his face as he wiped the slobber off his cheek.

The werewolf made a noise that was half between a snort and a sneeze, tongue flopping out of the side of his large jaw as his tail raced a mile a minute.

“It’s not drool, they’re kisses,” Yixing commented from nearby and Baekhyun nearly burst into a fit of giggles like he had an hour ago when he’d come across this scene.

You’d think a group of wolves would be much more sensitive to be compared to dogs, yet here he was watching Yixing and Junmyeon throw _huge_ branches through the clearing for the younger boys.

What a bunch of dogs.

“Well I don’t like those kisses!” Baekhyun said sternly, pointing a finger at the brunette wolf.

In response to that, Chanyeol wagged and came pouncing the foot distance between them to tackle him to the ground.

The human screamed bloody murder but shortly it was just laughter when he was pinned to the grass with a wolf using him as a bed.

Chanyeol whimpered and nosed at his chin, holding himself on front paws.

“I _guess_ I don’t mind that much.” Baekhyun choked on laughter, using both hands to pet his face.

It was funny because even in this form Chanyeol's eyes could turn into crescents.

“Still prefer normal ones,” He added, petting Chanyeol's muzzle, it took both of his hands in order to pet over it fully. 

Chanyeol huffed in his face making Baekhyun scrunch his face up before the wolf was climbing off of him and dashing towards the house.

The door was wide open for good reason and now he understood a lot more of _why_ Minseok was so demanding about a clean house - because if not it would be an absolute pigsty of wolves running into things.

“Baek.” 

Baekhyun sat up on his bottom, brushing grass off his pants and pushing the long sleeves of Chanyeol’s hoodie up his arms, “Hi.” 

_“Hi,”_ Kris murmured, taking a seat on the grass but not looking at him as he leaned onto his knee and watched the younger ones play. “You know, it’s kind of… _weird_ for you. I get it. But uh.. you know, if you have questions or anything like that…” 

“We’re good, Kris,” Baekhyun mumbled, laughing under his breath at the others stumbling just to say a simple _hey._

“Good. It’s just like.. with them, it’s natural… to adjust, to understand more. I can feel it and understand but you’re human and it’s.. hard. So, you know, you’re a little different, but you’re my pack too.” 

Baekhyun could argue a lot about who was _different_ in these circumstances because the minority said werewolves were.

But he didn’t, and he just smiled, “Thanks, leader.” 

Kris laughed then, and sometimes it was hard to picture it unless seeing it directly because the other looked so cold when not smiling. “Oh, I’m not your leader.” 

“Huh?” Baekhyun pouted his lips in confusion.

“You want the leader? He’s right behind you,” Kris laughed like Baekhyun was hilarious, standing to his feet and going towards Minseok.

Baekhyun didn’t realize what he’d said was _that_ funny, but apparently it was.

Either way, he squealed when said person _behind him_ was yanking him up from under his arms and tossing him around in order to sweep him up properly. 

“Hey! You said no more picking him up!” Jongin whined, sitting on the porch in only a pair of boxers that he’d likely just changed into and a half of watermelon beside him - _literally_ half a watermelon. 

“Doesn’t apply to me,” Chanyeol said instantly, laughing at the others' annoyed look as he carried Baekhyun into the house. 

_“So not fair! We want to play with the human too!”_ Zitao added, huffing and puffing behind the wall.

“Everyone wants my _human,”_ Chanyeol pouted and Baekhyun giggled into his arm, hand draped over the side of his neck.

Baekhyun really liked the others' room, it was private and actually many of the others didn’t go into it much and he knew now it was because it smelled like _Chanyeol,_ whatever that meant.

He supposed it was something along the same lines as Chanyeol saying he smelled like _Baekhyun,_ which he was assuming meant cinnamon because he still remembered that text.

“Channie,” 

The werewolf hummed at him, placing him on the edge of the bed and walking over towards his bookshelf and beginning to fiddle with some little superhero figures.

Baekhyun was glad he liked them this much, it’d taken him calling Luhan _and_ the entire pack to hold the wolf back in order for Chanyeol to be convinced enough to not see him after school one day.

It was important though. 

“Happy birthday.” Baekhyun cooed, kicking his shoes off and swinging legs back and forth. 

Chanyeol turned around grinning ear to ear, holding a Deadpool figure in his hand that he was posing around, “Thank you, you don’t have to tell me every five minutes you know.”

Biting his lip, Baekhyun blushed.

For things to go according to plan, he had to make sure it went _perfect_ today. Everything had to be Chanyeol oriented in every way.

They’d watched movies this morning, had a huge breakfast, Baekhyun played with his wolf and was smothered and drooled on for the past two hours, so thus far things were going fine, because Chanyeol didn’t lose his huge smile at all. 

“I love you.” 

The werewolf looked up from the figure, a gigantic crooked smile on his lips, “I love _you,_ cub.” 

Baekhyun grinned bashfully and tried not to seem _too_ out of place as he hopped off the bed and walked towards the door.

He heard Chanyeol whine and giggled because he wasn’t leaving, and because the other sounded like a kicked puppy even though he’d done _everything_ Chanyeol wanted today and only whined a little about being tossed around.

He just locked the door and spun around with his face alight, greeted with a raised brow from the wolf as he leaned against the locked bedroom door.

“Chanyeol, happy birthday.” 

Chanyeol seemed amused with his behavior, chuckling and moving to sit on the side of his bed, leaning back on his hands palms, “Why are you blushing, baby? Cat got your tongue?” 

It was teasing and Baekhyun instantly pouted his lips as he knew that such a smirk on the wolf’s face meant he’d figured _something_ out. 

He huffed and stuck his lips out as he walked over.

As soon as he was close enough he was being snatched at his hips and being manhandled so his knees were resting on the mattress and he sat firmly on Chanyeol's lap, smiling now. 

“Don’t you pout like that. I don’t like to see it,” Chanyeol warned playfully, fingers worming under his hoodie to rest on his skin. 

Baekhyun smiled and pressed their noses close for a moment, Chanyeol moved one hand only to push his glasses behind his ear more.

“Just love you.” 

As if Baekhyun hadn’t said it already today, Chanyeol looked very handsome with a dimpled grin and eyes searching his face.

“Hey.” Baekhyun whispered a moment later, licking his lips nervously and pressing his palm to Chanyeol's jaw to hold him still as he leaned down to kiss him. 

It wasn’t rare for Baekhyun to initiate kisses, but it was rare for him to initiate a tongue swiping Chanyeol's lip and for him to not pull back when he actually started getting breathy.

Chanyeol pulled away when he felt the other was becoming winded, petting his hip and the other hand holding the back of his neck. “Sweet cub.” 

With nervous eyes and his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath, Baekhyun sat back firmly on Chanyeol's thighs and swallowed thickly before he was brushing the wolf's hands away and reaching for the edge of the shirt and hoodie he wore.

He ripped them both off and avoided the others eyes until they were on the floor and he was now topless. 

The noise Chanyeol made was nothing short of a purring as he trailed a large palm up his back, grasping the nape of Baekhyun’s neck and ducking his head to catch his eyes. “Pretty, baby.”

Releasing the lip he'd been chewing on, Baekhyun tittered and smiled bashfully, reaching out for Chanyeol's top. “I _love_ you.” 

“I love you.” Chanyeol said. Then, the wolf eyed him for approval _and_ for any sign of hesitation. 

He must not have found any, because Baekhyun watched him pull his own shirt off before they were both topless and he was blushing.

“Love you,” The wolf was grabbing beneath his thighs and Baekhyun just felt giggly and desirable when he was laid down on his back with Chanyeol hovering over him, “My beautiful mate. Gorgeous, puppy.” 

And once they were kissing again, Baekhyun didn’t feel overwhelmed enough to have them stop. 

He was more than in love.


	2. Puppy... (M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut continuation

_“Gorgeous, puppy.”_

Baekhyun gasped, not in shock, but purely with nerves when Chanyeol surged down to cup his cheek and as soon as their lips touched again there was a tongue mapping out his own.

It wasn’t uncommon, everyone seemed to give them _a lot of_ space ever since they’d come back together, and they took a lot of advantage of it.

Chanyeol really was like a moth to a flame as soon as they did more than peck each other’s lips, as soon as there was a tongue involved or even if Baekhyun had licked his lips before it was all out.

As if the wolf really couldn’t handle not tasting as much of him as possible.

Baekhyun released a soft moan when teeth scraped his bottom lip, a noise that surprised even him and he stiffened with embarrassment.

Considering their circumstances and… what he’d had planned, it was a ridiculous action. 

_“Adorable,”_ Chanyeol’s voice sounded deeper now and Baekhyun felt he was acting a bit differently when the other turned to press his nose against his cheek.

Did he smell that nice? 

Chanyeol tended to discreetly sniff at him sometimes, but nothing so obvious.

Baekhyun knew what was going to happen, they were both _hard_ he could feel the others erection against his knee, he had _prepared and planned this._

Yet he was still so nervous. 

He’d never done anything like this before, never had kisses and little nips placed on his neck as Chanyeol was now doing - reddening his pale skin every time he sucked an area into his mouth.

Baekhyun felt more embarrassed to know the other could hear any little noises he was making because his hearing was extraordinarily better than his own.

The taller was dipping down to lick into the deep set of his collarbone and Baekhyun had no idea what overcame him but he whined and bucked his hips up against Chanyeol's.

His hands immediately went to cover his mouth, tossing his palm over lips with wide eyes.

If anything, his reaction just made the taller smirk, Chanyeol chuckled into his chest, sending vibrations through him and gathered his leg to pull over his hip, curling fingers along the waistband of his pants. 

Baekhyun couldn’t help it, he was curious, “You… did you… have you..” words muffled, Chanyeol reached up to remove his hand from his mouth with a gentle look.

“Course not. Why would I knowing I had a mate somewhere?” The wolf murmured, petting his cheek, “Doesn’t mean I didn’t… look things up.” 

The human squeaked and tugged the corner of the pillow over his face shyly, “Me too.” 

If Chanyeol had much to say about that he didn’t and just smiled as if things weren’t this overwhelming, ducking down to press a kiss to the center of his chest before rolling off the bed.

That made Baekhyun frown, moving the pillow away to sit up on his elbows, “Cha.. Chan… ‘m ready now..” 

“I know, cub. Getting some things.” 

With a confused look at Chanyeol's back, Baekhyun laid back down on the bed, hands moving to nervously fiddle with his hair and chewing his lip anxiously. 

It was more nerve wracking than he’d pictured.

There was a sound of a box being torn open and he turned to watch the top of the cardboard fall onto the floor.

_Condoms._

Of course, Baekhyun was an idiot. Didn’t matter if it was both their first times, he wasn’t ready for… _that yet._

He honestly wasn’t even sure what other _activities_ he’d have the courage to try.

No doubt he’d find it though, because Chanyeol was handsome and adorable and _sweet_ and encouraged him to do what he liked all the time.

He was curious, just nervous and had very little confidence especially in this area.

“We’re going to be teased so much after this.” 

Baekhyun giggled as a foil package was placed beside his shoulder, a small white package too and he instantly flustered at the packet of lube - _fuck_ this was his idea and he’d been so nervous he forgot all the supplies.

Before he could think too much about it, Chanyeol caught his mouth in a searing kiss, one that was loud and the sounds of their lips pressing together resonated. 

He hoped all the wolves stayed _outside_ because he had no idea how good their hearing was when Chanyeol said specifically he could hear _Baekhyun_ from pretty far but made no other indications about others.

A string of saliva hung between their mouths when Chanyeol sat back again, and something about it seemed to please the wolf because he licked his lips and looked so _turned on_ by watching it break and sit on Baekhyun’s lip.

That, or it was the human licking it off that made Chanyeol groan and rapidly shift to unbutton Baekhyun’s jeans.

Only when the smaller made a soft shy noise did Chanyeol realize it was too much and he went back to kissing Baekhyun’s chest while fiddling with his pants instead.

Kissing was okay, familiar. Kissing was relaxing and Baekhyun sighed pleasantly and pet the wolf’s curls as kissing and wet sucks were made against his skin.

He wanted to try it too, see if Chanyeol's skin could bruise like his because it would look nice against his tan.

“Good? You okay, sweet cub?”

“Mhm.” Baekhyun hummed his approval, earning a fast wet kiss to his jaw as Chanyeol had to sit up to remove his pants, quickly pulling them off and as if he knew Baekhyun would think too much about it if left naked and being stared at, the taller was peppering kisses to his left thigh and petting his hip.

“God, so pretty. So beautiful. Little angel, my little angel, baby.” 

The more praise he got the less Baekhyun felt his stomach churn and the more he smiled, trying to keep his hands up so he didn’t cover himself up. “You _too.”_

Chanyeol snorted, kissing his knee before setting his leg down so his foot was flat on the bed, “Cute, my little gift.” 

Baekhyun grinned really hard at that one, Chanyeol noticed but didn’t say a thing as he smiled and moved to fix his other leg the same way.

It hadn’t occurred to Baekhyun until the second Chanyeol was grabbing for the packet what he was doing and he was instantly worried.

Of course he’d _tried_ stuff, but this wasn’t his _own_ hand and Chanyeol's was _huge._

He knew it would hurt.

“Want you to tell me it’s okay,” The taller stated, tearing open the packet with his teeth before looking back up with a tsk, “And _stop_ doing that, baby,” He complained, grabbing the pillow off the humans face to throw onto a floor leaving Baekhyun to pout with a red face. “I want to see you. Please don’t, I can’t tell if you’re scared when you’re hiding.” 

Baekhyun pouted his bottom lip out _harder_ and Chanyeol made a huge sigh before leaning over to kiss the swell of his lip and playfully roll his eyes as the wolf grabbed his discarded shirt off the floor. 

“Don’t suffocate yourself, I’ll be _so heartbroken.”_ Chanyeol muttered playfully, placing the shirt in Baekhyun’s hand.

The human burst into giggles, raising a hand to tug him down for another kiss, “Won’t, promise.” 

“Better not.” The wolf warned, sitting back on his knees to spread lube across his fingers, “We haven’t gotten to do _anything_ yet, and I’ve been waiting for you seventeen years! I have a _list!”_

Baekhyun was pretty sure he was just teasing, but who really knew because Chanyeol was adorable.

There were things _he_ wanted to do too, and he didn’t know if Chanyeol meant sexually or not, but he was feeling better every time he remembered that this _was_ permanent.

He and Chanyeol were permanent, and the universe wouldn’t let him be tossed to the curb by the wolf at _all._

And Chanyeol's constant loving stares said he hadn’t even considered _wanting_ to deny their relationship since day one.

“Ah-“ Baekhyun jolted at the cold feeling of a finger encircling his hole, Chanyeol's hand on his stomach to keep his hips down.

“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t exactly _know_ we’d be doing this today, would’ve warmed it up, but I’m impatient.” 

Baekhyun half giggled and half made a surprised noise when a finger was breaching his entrance and sucked his lip into his mouth to hide the shocked noises he wanted to make. 

He tried to keep calm the entire time, but it was hard to do once Chanyeol's finger was pushing further than he’d ever been able to reach and he released an uncomfortable noise.

Chanyeol stopped moving instantly, leaning over to use his unbusy hand to pet Baekhyun’s hair off his forehead, “You have to say when it hurts, baby.” 

“Just…” Baekhyun wiggled his hips to try and ease the feeling between his legs but it only caused the finger inside him to hit his prostate and he _shook_ when that happened, mouth falling open and a grunt of pleasure from his mouth, hands clenching the t-shirt that was on his chest. “.. s’good now, good.” 

“Fuck. You’re so gorgeous, so hot. Gonna cum without even being inside you,” Chanyeol groaned, looking torn between wanting to watch Baekhyun or get on with it.

That _wasn’t_ what Baekhyun wanted though and the human whined at that, reaching for Chanyeol's hair to try and grab his face but accidentally yanking and the other _moaned._

It surprised him and the finger curling up inside him further made Baekhyun sing, tongue prodding the corner of his lips and mouth parted because he couldn’t seem to keep them shut. 

“Holy _shit.”_

Baekhyun whimpered and tried to shift so Chanyeol would do that _again,_ but suddenly it was removed and he actually felt tears well in his eyes.

“No, Chanyeol, more - it's good, s’good!” He yelped, afraid he’s cry had been taken wrong.

It hadn’t though, because Chanyeol was removing his jeans and jumping right back over top of him, connecting their lips and moving his finger to it's prior place.

Baekhyun tangled hands into his hair, lifting his hips off the bed when he moaned wetly on the others tongue when Chanyeol found his prostate and begun to finger it constantly. 

Just one finger and he was already on cloud 9 and yet he could barely help himself with his entire hand.

“Yes, fuck, look at you. So beautiful,” Chanyeol panted into his mouth, Baekhyun hiccuped on noises he didn’t think he’d ever been able to make, “Starry eyed already, baby. Just wait. Gonna learn how to make you feel much better. So good, cub.” 

“Mhm- Yes, yes,” Baekhyun whimpered and clutched his curls tightly, glasses sliding off his face with each rocking motion he did.

That was fine, because he could see Chanyeol if he stayed close, and they’d be very close for a bit.

“Love you. Gonna love you forever. We have such a long time to learn, little angel.” 

Baekhyun felt his eyes roll back and squeezed his knees into Chanyeol's hips, huffing hot breath into the others mouth, but Chanyeol just drank it up and groaned like he was the one being pleasured.

Well, the wet top of his erection on Baekhyun’s hip said he very much was, and all the precum was beginning to pool around the humans navel and mix with his own.

“S- Ah!” Baekhyun’s nails dug down into his scalp, biting down on his own bottom lip when his spine was sent a jolt and he then pushed the other back with a squirm because he didn’t want it to be over yet.

Chanyeol just smiled into his cheek, removing his hand and splaying it right beside Baekhyun’s throbbing length like he was teasing, “Three fingers, you did so well, so well, so hot, baby.” 

Baekhyun just laid panting for a moment, accepting the kisses to his face with a tiny grin and wondering how he hadn’t noticed he’d gotten that many.

After the first one it hadn’t hurt as much, but that was likely going to be foreseen tomorrow because his hole was already throbbing a bit and he still had yet to get to the main event.

That was normal according to what little information he’d gotten from Yixing, so he just felt a little _proud_ to have not chickened out yet.

In fact, he was so confident, maybe too prideful right now being smothered with all this love and affection and being treated gently although Chanyeol thus far moaned loudest to more harsh things.

Hair pulling and spit, Baekhyun could get behind that if he got this much praise just for being himself.

“Wan-“ Baekhyun turned his head to the side in order to disconnect lips with the other sucking on his mouth, “-t to try.” 

“Try what, beautiful?” 

Baekhyun knew he was blushing all the way down his chest but he needed to man up, he was almost seventeen for fucksake, just barely behind Chanyeol.

“... suck your dick.” 

All at once the taller hissed and growled, curling his damp hand around Baekhyun’s hip and gathering himself with an expression that looked nearly angry.

But _so attractive._

“You want to suck my dick?” Chanyeol groaned, sitting up and in a move removing the useless glasses from Baekhyun’s face to his side table and grabbing the back of his neck to press their faces together, “My little angel, sounds so good from your lips. One more time.” 

“Want to… suck your dick, Yeol,” Baekhyun whispered, fumbling his words and holding the tallers biceps. 

Chanyeol _licked_ the corner of his mouth with darkened eyes and it was such a wet move Baekhyun should have been grossed out considering he whined when the other licked him as a wolf.

But this was entirely different and lustful and _attractive._

He just gasped a soft noise as he collected the saliva on his tongue, scooting to move down to the side of the bed and kneeling in their discarded clothes.

First of all, he was nervous. He didn’t know what he was doing at _all._

And secondly, he’d never even _felt up_ Chanyeol prior to this and lost a bit of confidence when actually looking at the others' erection.

It was an angry red, not unlike his own, dripping precum and the vein underneath was throbbing.

Baekhyun wet his lips nervously but when he looked up found that Chanyeol didn’t look expectant, he didn’t look pushy nor forceful, he just looked at him fondly and was wiping his hand clean in the t-shirt that was originally going to be Baekhyun’s hiding spot. “Change your mind, sweet cub. That’s okay, treasure.” 

He was so _nice_ to him and so kind that Baekhyun whined and rested his cheek against Chanyeol's right inner knee, “Scared.” 

“Why?” Chanyeol turned full attention down to him, sweeping hair from Baekhyun’s temple with a concerned look, “There’s no reason to be, but don’t push yourself, Baekhyun. I love you and we can stop everything right now and I’d be fine. My tiny mate, stop beating yourself up, it’s _fine._ And we have plenty of time to experiment later on.” 

Baekhyun nodded with a small frown on his face, climbing back to his feet to get into the others lap again, hugging Chanyeol's neck and tucking his head into his neck. “I’ll be no good and it’s your birthday.” 

“Sh, no. Don't worry about stuff like that, can get off perfectly fine looking at this pretty face,” Chanyeol muttered, warning a small laugh from Baekhyun, “Seriously, we don’t need to try everything now. Want to try so many things with you, but I know you’re not ready.” 

“Like what?” 

“For _starters,”_ The taller mused, hands coming to squeeze his ass and making the human rut against his abs in surprise, “Taste this pretty little ass. Want to suck your dick too, but in _time._ Right now I just want to be with you.” 

Baekhyun hid his smile in Chanyeol's shoulder, knowing he was red as he pressed a kiss to his boyfriends skin, finger tracing the wolf claw mark on his ribs before sitting back, “Just want to love you now.”

Chanyeol's smile widened, hugging his hips closer, “Okay. Whatever you want, baby. Just know I love you all the time.” 

“I know,” He muttered with a fond smile, digging his nose into Chanyeol's and shifting onto his knees, “Want to do it like this.” 

The wolf hummed into his neck, reaching over to grab the condom by the headboard and kissing Baekhyun’s throat to soothe him as the noises of opening the package made him freeze up for a moment.

“You do it, don’t want to hurt you,” Chanyeol whispered softly, petting a hand over his spine and moving to hold his hips up.

Baekhyun nodded wearily, tongue resting on his bottom lip as he reached behind him to grasp Chanyeol's erection, he watched the other release a shuttery noise and felt a little better seeing pleasure on his face. 

The tip was easy, Baekhyun was stretched and slowly seating himself down onto the others erection and both of their breathing picking up.

It came to a point where the stretch burned and Baekhyun had to suck it up, focusing on the look on Chanyeol's face, and the hands squeezing his hips as he sat down.

The length was all inside of him now and it was pressing right against his prostate and as soon as he was seated Chanyeol groaned really loud, holding his hips down against him and Baekhyun _squirmed,_ white flashing behind his eyes as he tossed his head back and moaned.

“Fuck, tight. So tight. F-Fuc-“

He felt Chanyeol wanting to thrust and move and scrambled to find purchase around his neck, squeezing around it and panting into his cheek at the fullness. 

“Chan - oh, good - easy, easy please - s’big-“

Chanyeol rolled his hips slowly and Baekhyun felt like he likely looked like a panting dog unable to keep his mouth shut with the constant _ah Ah ah_ noises that he kept releasing into Chanyeol's face.

It wasn’t like Chanyeol was much better at all, he grunted and made deep, heavy noises, flicking his tongue against Baekhyun’s skin when the smaller squirmed. 

It was so much, and once he felt he was stretched enough, Baekhyun shifted up on his knees, the tip of Chanyeol's erection sitting in his rim and breathed for a moment.

“You good? Good?” Chanyeol fussed, face now at Baekhyun’s collarbones and neck at the angle, hot breath spreading down his chest.

“Good, good- ready now.” 

They were both going to cum so quickly, Baekhyun already knew he was sitting right on the brink, but Chanyeol pulled his face down for a soft kiss, cupping the back of the smallers head after and holding his head tightly into his shoulder like he was preparing him for something.

And he really _was_ because once he thrusted up into him Baekhyun felt like the wind was knocked out of him at the pace, mouth wide open and moaning so much he hid his mouth into Chanyeol's skin, “Ngh - Chan- yes, ye-yes!” 

It was barely even words anymore, more like incoherent murmurs as he chased his release. 

It didn’t take long, they weren’t used to the feeling, the rush.

Baekhyun came first, clenching his eyes shut and _screaming_ a high pitched noise into Chanyeol's throat as his toes curled up and he came all over the others abdomen.

“Oh, baby - oh, fu-yes. Gorgeous, gorge- _fuck,”_ Chanyeol cupped his face and was lazily fucking into him and only a few moments after Baekhyun came while collecting the drool from the smaller bottom lip.

And then they just panted, hugging close and smiling wet and swollen lipped looks, brushing their noses together.

Baekhyun was so tired even though really Chanyeol did all the work, knowing he was going to be sore from the werewolf’s tight grip _and_ the sex tomorrow as he grinned lazily and could barely even pout his lips to peck Chanyeol back when the other kissed him softly.

After a few moments of loving nuzzling, Baekhyun yawned in his face, worn as he went limp against Chanyeol's shoulder, eyes fluttering closed. 

“Sweet cub,” His boyfriend cooed, goosebumps on Baekhyun’s skin where Chanyeol was massaging his back, “My tiny mate, go to sleep, puppy.”

“You.. too,” Baekhyun whispered, tiredly and blindly touching the shell of Chanyeol's ear. 

“I will, baby. Just after you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case y’all were interested ☕️


	3. Perfect Perfect Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into Chanyeol’s perspective!

“Stop it!” 

Chanyeol rolled his eyes at Jongin's obnoxiousness, the younger hanging on his arm and yanking him, he tried shaking him off and snarled, “Jongin, _stop!_ We’re not going running if you don’t listen!” 

He heard Kris sigh and within a second Jongin and Sehun were cackling up a storm.

“Yeol, you’re so _grumpy_ today!” The second youngest laughed at him.

Unamused, Chanyeol sent him a sarcastic look, but didn’t have time to scream at the younger before suddenly Sehun was rushing off, _“You hear that, guys?_ Must be a deer or something!” 

Sehun hadn’t shifted yet, his senses weren’t the best and Chanyeol was irritated because it _obviously_ was no deer unless suddenly a deer walked on two feet.

Whatever, he’d find out for himself, Chanyeol was just glad none of them had shifted yet because they shouldn’t scare the shit out of a human. 

“Slow down!” Kris yelled, taking off before him after the youngest and Chanyeol snorted when Jongin nearly slipped trying to follow.

Not really all that interested, he took his time following them, but as soon as he heard the three start yelling at each other he groaned and hurried up.

Chanyeol came up behind them just as he heard a, _“Hey, he’s pretty cute.”_ And frowned. 

He just didn’t really like when the others commented about things like that, they had mates out there, or _some_ of them were a year off from learning about who it would be.

Like Sehun had no idea Junmyeon already knew it was him, no shift meant no instincts enough to be able to tell. 

God knew it had taken Kris months to wait for Yixing to notice and catch up, Chanyeol had half a mind to flat out scream at Jongin for not noticing Kyungsoo yet.

That wasn’t his business though, and both of them were so close in age he wasn’t entirely sure Kyungsoo realized their gravitation towards each other either.

Not his business.

“Shut up and apologize,” Kris snarled, shoving Sehun's arm.

Chanyeol moved to stand on the path of rocks, half confused when his own heart started picking up pace.

The human had a head of brown waves, decked out in a hoodie down to his knees and the cutest brown rain boots, mud all down his back. 

Chanyeol suddenly felt sick to his stomach, ears not even registering whatever the others were saying to the human, but he could hear everything the brunette was saying _clearly._

 _“It’s okay…”_ And it was so pretty, barely even a whisper at all, hands touching the edge of his hoodie and the glasses on his face were fogged over a little.

Fuck _fuck fuck._

Chanyeol made a noise under his breath of pain as he sucked in a breath and _sweet sweet sweet_ filled his mind as cinnamon and sugar flooded his nose and sunk down into his lungs.

So pretty. Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful - _mine._

His mate was a _human_ and later he knew he’d freak out more about it, but now he was just staring with fond eyes at the little button nose on him and his blushing cheeks. 

He moved to rub his nose and Chanyeol could have collapsed at the adorable nervous fiddling he was doing. 

The human looked really nervous, mud splattered on his cheek and Chanyeol should _do_ something, say something.

But the only thing he was doing was listening to how focused his ears suddenly got on the smallers racing heartbeat, listening to it pump like it was right beside him yet not a few feet away.

His body was adjusting to the human, welcoming him into his focus because he really _was_ the only thing Chanyeol needed to hear when close to him.

Jongin cooed something, he saw the human look flustered, yet couldn’t acknowledge it.

The only thing he did acknowledge was when the cute human twisted to look up at him with fleeting eyes and whisper an _excuse me,_ softly.

Oh. He was trying to leave.

That thought made Chanyeol feel panic settle in his stomach instantly, the human took another step to go around him since he didn’t move and he had to do _something_ for him to stay.

“I’m sorry I didn’t help you up.” He blabbered, word vomiting all over as he looked at such a dainty face and so many _soft_ features.

The human looked really nervous when he looked up at him, glasses and hair partially blocking chocolate eyes and Chanyeol desperately wished he’d brush the hair to the side so he could see them better. “It’s okay. Um.. your.. your friend did it.” 

Who? What?

Chanyeol honestly forgot everything that had just happened within two seconds and had to rack his brain to figure it out.

And once he did, he registered seeing Sehun pull the human up and that pissed him off because it was _his_ mate and his pack members shouldn’t have gotten to feel his mate's skin before him.

“He shouldn’t have. I’m sorry _I_ didn’t do it,” Chanyeol stressed, only realizing a moment later that he sounded stupid.

He needed to fix it and say something else, yet the human started _giggling._

And god only knew how badly Chanyeol wanted to honor the moon for creating such a perfect creature for him - perfect voice, perfect face, _perfect perfect perfect._

Then, it abruptly stopped and Chanyeol opened his mouth planning to say _please don’t stop,_ willing to do anything for that twinkling laugh, but the human was red nosed and sniffling. 

_“Um…. bye.”_

He must be freezing cold, and Chanyeol knew how warm he himself was. 

If he found his tongue, he’d be able to offer a hug, but even that thought was stupid considering he hardly knew the little puppy. 

Knew so little in fact, that as soon as he heard the human whisper a _Byun Baekhyun_ Chanyeol felt a million times better. 

_Byun Baekhyun, Baekhyun, Baekhyun._ Even his name sounded cute, adorable even. 

His little human _Baekhyun,_ his tiny mate, sweet little cub. So adorable.

Whom was shivering and Chanyeol released a warning noise under his breath when Jongin tried to hold up Baekhyun’s time any longer.

He knew the younger likely wanted to play with his new pack member, but if any one of them was upset just letting Baekhyun walk off it most certainly was him and yet he had to because the boy was cold and Chanyeol hated it too.

He watched the other scurry away, mud flaking off of his clothes as he walked up the path where he’d come from, and Chanyeol’s shoulders dropped when he disappeared out of sight.

A hand clasped around his shoulder and he sighed. 

“Congrats, Yeol.” Kris murmured carefully, “Wanna run it off?”

Chanyeol swallowed and nodded, turning to walk away from the path.

He needed a run before he clawed his own throat out for not saying more, too caught up in being a fucking _creep_ than much else.

And now he needed to digest the truth.

“Hey! Do you think he’d play chase with me!” He heard Jongin scream.

“Probably not,” Chanyeol said under his breath, “Because he’s human.” 

Chanyeol was worried, yet as the younger two started screaming about playing with Baekhyun he didn’t _feel_ as anxious about it as he knew he should.

“And don’t you _ever_ push my mate again, _run,”_ He barked, expression livid as he glared at Sehun.

The youngest stood there pouting.

Chanyeol growled louder, “One, two, _three… better run faster than that!”  
_  
  


******

“So…” 

Chanyeol looked up from his plate with a snort, setting his fork down and leaning back in his seat, _“so?”_

Luhan cackled at the teenagers look and Minseok turned to hit his mate with a stern look before placing a cheesy grin on his face and giving Chanyeol a smile that made the teen snort again. _“So!_ You’re not even going to say a thing about this _Byun Baekhyun_? Jongin ratted on you instantly.” 

Suddenly there was a cheesy smile spreading across his lips and Chanyeol was legitimately overcome with adoration.

_Soft pink lips, wavy brown hair, round framed glasses perched on his nose._

Chanyeol abruptly wanted to go find him again, no doubt it would be an easy task seeing as there had only been one house in their area that came from that rocky path. 

He wanted to know what Baekhyun would look like now with a clean face and looking comfortable.

Being a werewolf he knew he himself was blessed with good genes, he knew he was considered attractive to the human eye, all of the hormones that pumped through him sped up his growth.

But he didn’t _care_ what other humans thought, only the puppy, droopy eyed looking human.

Baekhyun was _it._

“Look at you!” Luhan cooed, “He must be one hell of a -“

“Human.” Minseok cut the other off, reaching across the table to push a bread roll towards Chanyeol.

It was rare in itself they all had dinner together without the others, but it just suddenly got a lot more uncomfortable in the room.

And Chanyeol couldn’t help feeling defensive although his uncle had only said one word - and it was a true word. 

“And he’s my _mate,”_ He hissed, accidentally more aggressive than he had been going for, but it was the _truth._

Minseok didn’t respond for a moment, they all just kind of looked at each other and Chanyeol glared down at his plate because he wanted to apologize, but felt he didn’t need to when he was standing up for his mate.

“Pup,” Minseok murmured softly, “You do know what this means, right?”

“What?” Chanyeol asked.

“He has _no_ idea, Yeol. And that’s on you to tell him. This is your pack - not mine, not Luhan’s, it’s on _you_ to make these choices.” 

Chanyeol swallowed hard and leaned into his palm, scratching along his temple, “Look-“

Minseok cut him off instantly at the tone, raising a hand up at him, “I’m sure he’s absolutely sweet and adorable and perfect for you, Chanyeol. I’m _sure_ he’s magnificent, but he’s _not_ one of the puppies and he’s not just immediately going to understand. He’ll need explanations, a guide, baby, he’s _human.”_

Chanyeol had a lot of things to say to that - first of all wondering why he made it sound like such a _bad_ thing. And secondly he was overwhelmed at the sudden pressure being put on him.

And lastly, Baekhyun _was_ his puppy and he’d argue that to the fucking end despite barely _knowing_ the human.

Now he was just anxious again, stomach twisting and knew it was either because he hadn’t seen the human in three days or because of all the stress Minseok was putting on him.

It must have been obvious as he pushed his hair out of his face anxiously and shuffled his seat back. 

“Okay - okay,” Luhan soothed, “Why don’t you just start by bringing him over, okay? Yeol, don’t freak out, you can see him.” 

Chanyeol huffed a noise from his chest, standing from his chair immediately.

 _“Yah!_ I meant tomorrow! What are you going to do? Show up at that poor boys house at dinner time? Don't be crazy!” 

He _was_ going to do that, the most natural thing to do felt like going to Baekhyun.

But he would seem crazy. Creepy even.

He didn’t want that at all.

“Wha-“ Chanyeol cleared his throat of the scratchiness, “What do I _say?”_

“Don’t tell me you’ve never flirted with a boy before.” 

Chanyeol deadpanned to his uncle, “Why would I do that?”

Luhan cackled and Chanyeol frowned at the man's amusement, “What? _What’d I say?”_

And _that’s_ how he found himself going to pick the tiny human up.

Honestly, it took him a good hour just to pick out an outfit seeing as it wasn’t really _ideal_ to just throw something on, he was trying to impress after all.

Seemed he really didn’t need to because as soon as he knocked on the light blue door and listened to shuffling inside he was greeted with the cutest sight in the world.

Just three days was enough for him to completely realize how under appreciating of Baekhyun he’d been in his mind.

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Angelic.

The human was adorable looking up at him and holding the door, lips parted a bit in a way that made the wolf want to just cup his jaw and kiss him.

Of course that would just be plain creepy.

“Hi.” Chanyeol said, hoping he hadn’t been caught looking at the human head to toe, admiring and wondering how cute one could be in large sweatpants and a plain black hoodie. 

_“Hi-“_

Baekhyun was cut short by a series of hacking, the human leaning his head over and Chanyeol was so worried he immediately was peering closer at him, eyes narrowing with focus instinctively.

The thin metal nose piece began to slip from Baekhyun’s nose and he was snatching the glasses so quickly he knew the human eye couldn’t catch it - and he hoped the human ear didn’t hear his low hiss when he realized exactly what was happening.

Baekhyun’s nose was raw and he had a small dry patch beneath it and his eyes were bloodshot.

 _Poor puppy,_ my little cub.

He gave the shocked looking boy his glasses and ran a hand through his hair with irritation when he realized, “Holy shit, you’re sick as fuck.” 

His mates face dropped, dulling and Chanyeol didn’t know _why_ until he realized how rude that sounded and Baekhyun was still fucking _gorgeous_ even sick.

“Fuck. No. That’s not - I mean.. I just… you’re really sick.” He stressed, scolding himself internally. 

“Yeah.” 

He sounded dejected and upset and Chanyeol wanted to go hide in a hole for making Baekhyun stare at his own cloud printed socks sadly. 

“Y-I just mean that you’re cute but you’re sick - wait, like you’re cute anyway - but like super sick and you still look cute and - god..” Fuck, Fuck! Always fucking up, last time he looked stupid and this time he had _no_ idea what to do.

But Baekhyun giggled that same twinkling, calming laugh, one that had the human holding his lip between his teeth for a second and Chanyeol wanted that to be _him_ holding his lip.

“Look. I came over to uh.. say sorry.” 

“Okay, it’s okay.” Baekhyun blinked up at him with innocent eyes.

When had he become such a lustful person? He never really even had much interest in kissing up until Baekhyun.

Of course it was because this was his _mate._ And what a gorgeous one he’d gotten.

He was back to staring at a small curl resting on Baekhyun’s temple and scanning his face, snapping out of it when he remembered Baekhyun had no clue why he was watching him like that.

“I’m so not good at this.” He whispered.

Baekhyun raised a brow, “Not good at what?”

 _Fuck fuck fuck, mayday!_ Humans can hear better than he thought! 

Chanyeol embarrassingly shoved hands into his pockets and nodded behind him, “Come with me.” He stared over his shoulder for a second and listened to the smaller shuffling before looking back.

Only this time Baekhyun was right in front of him staring at the car, within a foot and so goddamn cute.

Chanyeol noticed a beauty mark on his nose and groaned under his breath as he mused kissing it. 

Then chocolate eyes shot back to him and red instantly flooded the humans cheeks in a way that made Chanyeol feel cocky. 

Baekhyun really must not know how adorable he was as he scattered back, feet hitting the edge of the door frame before the human was righting himself with his face ablaze and glasses crooked, _“I-uh let me get my boots!”_

Chanyeol was in _love._

******

As he expected, Baekhyun fit in beautifully, and although they didn’t have alone time, Chanyeol still soaked up _any_ amount of time he had with the human even if it meant watching him laugh across the room.

It felt irrational to even try and say it wasn’t the greatest sound in the world because it had to be - to his ears at least.

Quite literally he could hear Baekhyun all over the house when he was over, sometimes even when he was walking loudly outside.

Humans just tended to be very loud, and that was perfectly fine with him because sometimes Baekhyun went to get himself snacks and hummed very happily.

His mate was anxious with friends, it was obvious, he looked really weary to say what things he enjoyed doing - to say he liked shooting games and action movies.

Ridiculous, because they were all still teenage boys and liked those things _too._

Baekhyun positively lit up when everyone just agreed with his interests and it made Chanyeol proud of his pack for putting that look on his mates face.

“Chan?” 

Chanyeol looked up, seeing as suddenly within the time he’d got lost in his thoughts until now Baekhyun was standing in front of him and offering him a soda.

He was tempted to tug him down into his lap, ball him up protectively and simply cradle him because he _could,_ to scent down his neck and inhale cinnamon.

“You done playing with the others? They can get too much.” 

“Oh, they said they were going to walk in the woods for a bit,” Baekhyun said as he plopped down on the porch bench beside him, “I’m still feeling sick, so I’m not gonna go.” 

Chanyeol snapped his head closer to look at him worriedly at that although relieved Baekhyun wasn’t going because wolves weren’t… the most human in an atmosphere like the woods. “What? Still?”

Baekhyun blushed and the way he used his sleeve covered hand to push up his glasses had to be the cutest thing the wolf had seen all day, “Get sick for a while..” he answered shyly.

Chanyeol wasn’t having that and was standing up quickly, grasping Baekhyun’s sleeve and hearing his mate let out a soft yelp at his tugging until he was pulling the other inside with him. 

“Chanyeol!” 

At the embarrassed squeal he looked over to see he’d been holding Baekhyun’s sleeve tightly on one side and it was causing his shirt to pull up.

The tiniest bit of his pale skin showed above his jeans and Chanyeol's first reaction was to lick his lips.

Only until he noticed the smaller beet red and trying to pull it down.

“Sorry, sorry, Baek. Let’s watch a movie or something inside where it’s warm.” 

Baekhyun didn’t seem to disagree at all, he just smiled a tiny bit and shuffled to plop onto the couch, “Min and Lu are taking awfully long to get pizza.” 

_Because they were pushy little shits,_ Chanyeol snorted to himself, shoving one of the Star Wars movies in because earlier they’d discussed a movie marathon and had already chosen.

Looks like they’d just start early.

“Are you hungry? Want me to get you something?” Chanyeol asked softly, standing by the tv to set things up and twisting to look at him.

Baekhyun was all curled into the couch now, long sleeves falling over his fingers as he leaned into the arm of the couch and legs pulled up beside him. 

It made him happy when the smaller seemed so content to be here, fingers touching the metal rim of his glasses in a way he always tended to do when he was bored.

Chanyeol noticed everything about Baekhyun, and hoped that it wasn’t as creepy as it sounded.

“No, just curious.”

“Well then you can stay _curious,_ curious kitty,” Chanyeol teased, taking a seat a few inches away from him. 

He couldn’t help it, when Baekhyun was around he had to be close. 

Baekhyun giggled, his foot rubbing against the couch cushion in an adorable way he did when comfortable, cheek resting on the back cushion.

Chanyeol was content to just stay like this with arms over the back of the couch, comfortable in sweats and smelling cinnamon, while watching one of his favorite series’ but then he felt the cushions shuffling about.

Baekhyun was normally red faced around him, flushed and cute and Chanyeol hoped it was because the human could _somewhat_ feel something towards him. 

He heard a breathy laugh and smiled to himself when there was a head being placed against his side, resting under his arm and at his chest.

Baekhyun’s hair tickled his jaw and Chanyeol smiled really wide when the smell of cinnamon soaked everything around him. 

This close he could hear the slight congestion when Baekhyun breathed and heard him sniff his runny nose a tiny bit; Chanyeol didn’t think he’d ever grow the courage to tell his mate he could hear such things because he just wanted to keep something to himself and silently fuss over it. 

He simply moved his arm off the back of the couch around Baekhyun’s back and hips, fingers resting along the curve of his waist.

“Tired?”

“Mhm,” Baekhyun mumbled, yawning into his shirt and pulling his knees closer, “Why’re you so warm?”

“I’ve always been warm,” Chanyeol dodged the question, wanting to rub his chest and see if it would help the slight wheeze to his breathing. 

_Stupid Sehun._ It’d been weeks and the smaller wasn’t healed yet. He was going to scold him again if he remembered.

Baekhyun hummed and cuddled into his side more, rubbing his cheek against the fabric of his shirt and glasses barely hanging on his face. 

He knew the other was likely just cold and tired, but Chanyeol pretended for a moment.

Pretending he could lean down and kiss him whenever he liked, maybe if Baekhyun wasn’t sick he would have tried tonight. 

_Then again Chanyeol was a coward._

“Want to call your dad and see if you can stay the night?” 

“I can-“ Baekhyun yawned so hard his jaw cracked and Chanyeol cringed, moving his hand to pet his hair from his forehead, “-working tonight.” 

He _also_ hated the thought of Baekhyun being home alone all night.

“Kay, let’s take these off before you break them, Baek.” 

Baekhyun scrunched his face up at that, tilting his head up and Chanyeol was really surprised his face wasn’t bright red as he pulled the humans glasses off and set them on the side table. 

His mate just blinked up at him a few times with searching eyes before turning his head to lay back down, hands pressing under his chin.

Chanyeol tried to stay as quiet as possible despite Anakin screaming on the tv, waiting for Baekhyun to fall asleep only a few minutes before he heard the humans breathing soften and saw him rubbing his feet together.

Could Baekhyun get any sweeter, really?

Perhaps it was invasive of him, but Chanyeol really couldn’t help brushing his hair away and looking down at his face.

It was so _gentle._ So soft and innocent. 

He used his sleeve to wipe a small bit of Baekhyun’s runny nose and felt terrible when his mate sniffed and scrunched his nose up at the feeling, he wouldn’t be sick if the weather wasn’t _so bad._

Chanyeol never had issues with the weather up until now, it was fun to run around in wolf form and slide through mud.

Apparently, he could learn to hate something quick - especially since it’d caused the little dry patch beside Baekhyun’s nose from constantly rubbing away his cold.

He was perfectly content to sit here and do so for him while he napped, resting his nose into soft hair and just watching, but Baekhyun’s hands were all curled into his sleeves and knees pulled up with exhaustion. 

He just needed a bed for a while.

Not knowing how sensitive Baekhyun was when he slept, Chanyeol shifted him into his lap first to make the lift not as jostling.

But he quickly wanted to just say fuck it and leave him right where he could cuddle him, but doing that would leave his mate startled and to wake up in a panic when the others came back.

They were loud, they always were.

Baekhyun must be a heavy sleeper, that or he was just worn since he had been here since early this morning, but he barely even made any noises at all until Chanyeol started up the stairs and then he murmured incoherently, clenching his fingers into the wolf’s shirt in his sleep.

“Sh, taking you to bed.”

Baekhyun was still dead asleep, obvious in his feet swinging with every step he was carried up the stairs. 

It felt good - to take care of Baekhyun.

If he were a wolf too, by now they’d have been together officially and perhaps even mated.

But times like this Chanyeol couldn’t find anything to feel upset about even if he did want much more than to _sometimes_ touch Baekhyun’s hands when the smaller shared snacks with him.

Baekhyun was very considerate and gave everyone a lot of attention so it was hard for him to tell if he was different to him at all.

He laid him down in his bed, bringing the blankets all around him and making sure he was elevated a bit for his congestion.

Just beautiful, Baekhyun was just ethereal and it was so hard to deal his own feelings with sometimes. 

“Little angel,” Chanyeol whispered, pressing a kiss to his head even though he knew he shouldn’t.

He knew if Baekhyun woke up right now he’d be _so_ creeped out. 

Fuck him and his stupid instincts to want to do anything and everything sweet for Baekhyun because they were things that seemed _so_ creepy to humans.

Chanyeol was whipped and all it took, quite literally, was a whiff of cinnamon to get sucked in this deep.

******

“Yeah? Want me to buy tickets now, Baek?” 

Chanyeol heard shuffling on the line and grinned, licking his lips with a bit of impatience to hear Baekhyun’s voice.

_“Let me ask my dad for the car first - I’m too lazy to walk!”_

Laughing, the wolf opened his mouth to say _I can always pick you up -_ preferably with a _baby_ added at the end, but he was way too chicken for that.

Yet, Baekhyun was adding a frantic, _“And you always pick me up! I can drive, you know!”_

“Okay! Okay, geez! Let me know when you’re on the way!

Chanyeol debated on tacking on a _baby_ to that also, walking on the edge of what was too pushy or not, but Baekhyun mumbled a quiet, _okay, Yeol, bye,_ and hung up.

He sighed, feeling his nerves come in the form of extreme energy as he kicked at a rock on the ground and laughed under his breath as he spun to head back to his house.

He’d already been going out to the car to go pick up his mate, but he’d had yet to tell Baekhyun that the movie they were going to wasn’t a group event.

God, he was so hopeless dealing with his own mate that he couldn’t even ask him out correctly.

Chanyeol just got too nervous and yelled, “Do you want to go see a movie!”

And Baekhyun, mouthful of fruit and eyes wide behind his glasses nodded while the rest of his pack burst into laughter.

It _really_ wasn’t funny. Only embarrassing for him.

_Hey… um, Yeol?”_

Chanyeol frowned at Yifan's voice coming through the link, dropping his phone onto the porch bench, _what’s up?_

_Just caught a whiff of Baek in the forest, have you talked to him today? We’re smelling him out here._

Instantly Chanyeol was set on edge, grabbing the back of his shirt to pull it off and over his head, _someone come to lead me to it, but everyone stay back from him._

He hurried to remove the rest of his clothing so he didn’t ruin them in his shift, knowing it wouldn’t take long for someone to come trotting back to get him.

He was proved correct when Jongin and Yixing came out of the tree line, the younger barking at him and turning his snout towards the trees.

Jongin was still getting used to learning how to communicate with them in this form so Chanyeol would normally laugh at the lack of words he used.

But right now he was just worried for his mate whom he’d only _just_ gotten off the phone with.

 _Go,_ Chanyeol barked, towering over the two as he nosed Yixing’s shoulder in response to the blonde whining worriedly.

Of course they would all be worried for Baekhyun - he was pack even if he was _human._

That thought alone made Chanyeol bark for them to go faster.

Baekhyun was only human and humans should _not_ be wandering around in the woods. It was wet and cold and there were plants that could cause serious injury, bears that would easily snap bones.

Chanyeol didn’t even feel any less uneasy when he caught the sweet scent, today Baekhyun smelled like brown sugar, it wasn’t something he normally smelled and he was able to pick it out as some sort of body wash even through all the smells of the forest.

As much as he loved brown sugar, Baekhyun’s natural scent was plenty perfect.

 _Don’t come up fast! Slow, slow! Don’t scare him!_ He yipped at Jongin, making the burgundy wolf whimper and slow down into a trot, pressing his ears on his head with a disagreeing huff.

 _Is he hurt?_ Yixing asked.

Chanyeol yelped in response, the thought was something he couldn’t stand to think about, he turned to look at Baekhyun’s form in the grass, finding that their commotion had not gained his attention.

Baekhyun was just crying so _loud._

It hurt his ears, even more so in this form, it was making Chanyeol’s hair stand up.

He whimpered and turned to step carefully over twigs to get closer to his mate.

His _sweet_ and very _human_ mate whose skin looked pink from the cold and who had his head buried in his knees.

Chanyeol couldn’t even stop to think about how he was a gigantic wolf right now, he whined and felt his ear flick at the whimpering coming from his mate, he lowered his front a bit to brush his nose against Baekhyun’s bare arm.

He heard his mate's breath catch, frozen.

 _I thought you said don’t scare him!_ Jongin shrieked.

 _Leave us alone,_ Chanyeol said firmly, sheltering them from seeing his mate's tearful face when Baekhyun lifted his head slowly.

He looked afraid and Chanyeol didn’t like that at all, taking a step back and barking in anger before realizing it was such a stupid thing to do. 

Baekhyun jumped about half a foot in the air at that.

Chanyeol whimpered loudly, like his foot got caught in stickers before dropping himself onto his chest, doing and inch scoot towards him.

Twigs and leaves were going to be stuck in his hair after this, but he didn’t give a fuck. 

“Sh… don’t hurt me. Don't hurt me please.” His mate requested, tear stains down his face and neck, and even when he sat back Chanyeol saw the wetness trail down his chest.

He must have been cradled together like that a while.

 _I’m not going to, baby. Sh, why are you sad?_ Chanyeol replied, fussing as he tilted his head to the side, _why are you sad? Baby._

It took him a moment of staring before he realized Baekhyun couldn’t possibly understand him, and the pack likely found him stupid for speaking to Baekhyun through the link like that.

Just another reminder that Baekhyun was very _human._

Chanyeol needed another way to talk to him, because it was all instinct to try and speak with him like this, but Baekhyun just didn’t understand.

He opted for a very _human_ way instead, flicking his tail back and forth and feeling like a dog rather than a wolf.

If it was for Baekhyun, it was okay.

“You… you… like that? Good boy…”

Chanyeol snickered to himself, digging at the floor trying to show that he was going to come closer, of course Baekhyun couldn’t understand that, he’d said so, but Chanyeol had no other options.

_Okay, baby, sh, don’t freak out. Don’t freak out, baby, hey - it’s okay._

Baekhyun, as any human would do, began to freak out when a huge wolf began approaching him, beginning to shake and beg, squeezing his eyes and fists shut.

 _Oh, my love,_ Chanyeol cooed, wishing Baekhyun could hear him, _stop crying, beautiful, I’m here. I’m here, pretty boy_

He swiped a kiss across Baekhyun’s face, tasting the saltiness of his tears and wanting instantly to get rid of more.

Chanyeol whined and pressed his snout under Baekhyun’s glasses to lick his other cheek, it made the glasses fall off but _surprisingly_ Baekhyun _laughed._

The noise made pride fill Chanyeol’s chest - the sense of accomplishment that filled his chest was immense, he felt his tail begin to wag faster instantly, a happy sensation as he pounced back playfully.

 _Make happy, make happy, happy mate-_ Chanyeol just felt like he needed to continue doing _anything_ to make Baekhyun laugh like that again.

Wolves communicated through bonds and seeing as Baekhyun didn't _have_ one, Chanyeol had to figure it out.

 _Come on, baby!_ He wagged quickly, jumping at Baekhyun and licking his cheek again, careful of his large paws on his mate, _come on, be happy! Happy, come on! Smile, beautiful!_

As Baekhyun began to whine about slobber instead, Chanyeol felt _more_ than accomplished with himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I’ve been really busy lately so I had forgotten I was going to add Chan POV! Here’s what I could get done quickly, hopefully more soon! 
> 
> Weren’t the deleted scenes cute? I figure it’s nice to see some things that Baekhyun’s POV didn’t include!


	4. I am a leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol’s perspective pt. 2

Baekhyun was too pretty and it was _scary._

Chanyeol legitimately had no idea what he was doing - feeling - what he should do.

One, he'd _never_ been on a date before - and regardless that this _technically_ wasn’t a date, it felt like it.

Two, It was with Baekhyun.

Three, Baekhyun had a loose sweater on that half fell down his shoulder and his glasses were slightly crooked and it was _too much._ Way too much. 

Baekhyun was too much for him in general, too pretty, too sweet, too kind.

_Adorable._

Chanyeol felt pride when he’d picked the human up, this warm, fuzzy feeling when Baekhyun sniffled and took it upon himself to turn on the heater. 

Chanyeol felt stupid sometimes because _oh yeah, humans got cold._ It was a strange concept to him, but he needed to learn fast because his mate seemed both accident and illness prone.

Well, he knew the red to Baekhyun’s eyes were from him crying a few hours before he picked him up, and Chanyeol found his nails threatening to elongate if he thought of it too long.

Baekhyun was so sweet, why did he deserve to be so sad? 

It was hard, because he knew he couldn’t actually ask Baekhyun about it - that would seem entirely too creepy, and the human had zero clue about much other than he met a strange wolf.

It both irritated _and_ made him proud when Baekhyun didn’t mention anything at all about him as a wolf - or a wolf in general. Maybe his mate felt protective? Chanyeol could only hope so, but even then it made him slightly sad that Baekhyun hadn’t trusted him enough to mention it.

But at the same time not bringing it up felt like the _best_ option.

_“Chanyeol?”_

The wolf probably looked like an idiot, caught staring at Baekhyun for _god knows_ how long. “Ye- yeah, yes. I’m listening _yeah.”_

Baekhyun giggled, and Chanyeol couldn’t be happier that he could hear it over the booming speakers of the theater, but he still had to pretend he couldn’t, so he leaned down closer to the human.

That was _perfect_ because now he could pick out the small freckles on Baekhyun’s face and blemishes, he was just so _cute._

“I said, _do you want popcorn?”_ The human mumbled, shaking a nearly empty popcorn container at him.

Baekhyun had been so focused the entire movie Chanyeol didn’t feel like teasing him to share, so he’d just watched the human eat more than his own weight in popcorn and candie.

He'd learned Baekhyun was a _snacker_ when watching movies and that was a good thing to know for future use.

Chanyeol just wanted to know _anything_ and everything he could.

“No, you can have it,” He answered quietly, shifting in his seat seeing as them whispering gave him an excuse to turn his entire body towards Baekhyun, hand dangling down over the back of the human’s seat. “Plus the movie is almost done.” 

Baekhyun pouted at that and Chanyeol was slightly disappointed he hadn’t been paying attention to the movie, and if Baekhyun liked it then it _must_ have been good. 

“I guess it’s okay… it’s getting pretty chilly in here..” Baekhyun trailed off, placing his popcorn down and wiping his hands on his jeans.

Chanyeol laughed, because Baekhyun _must_ be a popsicle or something, always so cold. But from what he’d gathered the human wasn’t used to the drab weather here. “Do you want my jacket?” 

“Oh! No, no… it’s fine, really…”

Too late, the wolf was already grabbing the leather jacket and turning to place it over the humans shoulders.

Baekhyun was _blushing,_ and Chanyeol knew he was staring at him, but he looked so small in the jacket, and it didn’t fit his cute baby blue sweater at all, but Baekhyun somehow made it look cohesive.

He heard more than saw Baekhyun kick his feet on the marble, likely a nervous action because he twisted his fingers together too and scrunched his nose when his glasses began slipping. “Thank you, Chanyeol.” 

“No problem,” Chanyeol breathed out, forcing himself to look back at the screen because Baekhyun had a strand of hair on his glasses that was _begging_ to be put back in place. “No problem at all, anytime, Baekhyun.” 

Now the problem was how the _fuck_ could he make himself stop imagining how to kiss the breath from the human without scaring him off.

Chanyeol came up empty and sighed.

_Maybe next time._

***

Chanyeol was prancing. His tail was straight up and his jaw held up high because he was the fucking _king_ right now. 

Well, until a small, red ball hit him in the chest and he whined and flopped onto the grass.

“You’re still a loser!” Sehun screamed from the porch, “So what, you kissed Baekhyun blah blah - good job it only took you four months to finally ask your _mate_ on a date!” 

_“Asshole,”_ Chanyeol pouted and dug his snout between his paws with a few sneezes. _“I’ll bite you up.”_

“Leave him alone,” Minseok laughed from the bench, overlooking the wolves with the porch light hanging over his head, “And Chanyeol, Sehun hasn’t shifted yet so it’s not nice to threaten him when he can’t hear you.” 

Laughter filled Chanyeol’s ears and it only made him whine _more,_ plopping onto the grass on his belly with an audible huff and narrowing eyes on the youngest with a warning in his eyes.

Of course Sehun just beamed like the little _shit_ he was, plopping a sandwich into his mouth.

 _“You know, I’m the one that’s supposed to be Alpha but you all treat me like a pup!”_ Chanyeol barked, flopping a large paw on the ground in a _very_ unconvincing way seeing as he was basically an overgrown puppy at this point.

He blamed his pack being a bunch of shitheads on the fact his uncles didn’t ever stop babying him - scratching his ears, feeding him meat, throwing him stuffed animals to chew on.

_He was a grown wolf, okay! He didn’t need to be babied._

(Of course he never whined when he was though.)

“Have you called and told your parents yet?” Chanyeol heard from beside him, twisting to eye Yixing when the other came close enough.

Okay, so _maybe_ he was part puppy, because Chanyeol grinned wolfishly and accepted the sandwich his pack member was carrying when it was placed onto the grass.

“You know that’s a sensitive topic.” Kyungsoo commented, “It’s not… I mean, I guess I should say at least our families were much more forgiving of… _this.”_

“It’s genetic, it can’t be helped.” Luhan cut in before the wolves all began wallowing and sulking about, puppy looks on wolves were _really_ heartbreaking. “It skips some generations - so even though Minseok had it… you know, Chanyeol was supposed to be a skipped generation, so… his parents were scared. Of course they were, I mean picture your fifteen year old hulking out on his birthday.” 

_“Wolfing out.”_ Jongdae oh so helpfully corrected.

Chanyeol whimpered and pressed his ears down, tail finding a place pulled under his body and bread crumbs in his fur.

Yixing sent him an apologetic smile and reached over to pet his ears and the alpha _did_ mellow out a little, but with a few sad noises.

This was a horrible time to talk about this, because in wolf form it was _so much_ harder to hide anger, sadness, happiness - it pretty much came out like an explosion of feeling.

Chanyeol hated to seem weak, he hated to be the only member of the pack who had a problem with _this,_ being a wolf.

It wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t been raised prepared to be this like the others.

He'd been a normal fifteen year old at the time, playing video games all day and actively avoiding his homework when he’d woken up with the strange marking on his skin.

Chanyeol remembered Minseok's warning when he’d called him, they’d always been close ever since he was a baby, and he’d much rather speak to him than go to his parents and be yelled at for having this weird tattoo.

Minseok told him not to go out of his room, he told him to wait to see anyone until he got there, he’d warned Chanyeol that it was _fine,_ but he’d have to come with him for a while.

Chanyeol had only been fifteen, of course he didn't listen. 

It was his birthday, it wasn’t like he could freely hide away for it.

But he wished he did.

Chanyeol wished he’d listened because then he wouldn’t have to have seen the look on his parents face when he suddenly went furry and snarled and tried to attack.

Newly shifted wolves were difficult to reign in, they saw everything not _wolf_ as being a threat.

Maybe if he had listened, then he would still feel comfortable going to visit his parents. Maybe he’d feel comfortable with the FaceTime calls and texts from them.

But it was too awkward now, it was too awkward when they all got together and his mother cried because he wasn’t small anymore, because he wasn’t lanky like she’d last recalled, he wasn’t a child and she couldn’t trap him in a hug with both arms like she used to. 

_Oh… he’s so big, Minseok… it’s good, right?_

_Yeah, I mean, Chanyeol is an alpha, they’re larger. You’ve seen his pack, right? Most of them are smaller, or at least thinner, being a wolf doesn’t change much._

_Well it changed Chanyeol._

Chanyeol couldn’t listen to much more and he couldn’t stand to see the tense smiles his dad gave him and the very awkward shoulder pats.

_You’re not going to give me a hug? Do you want to go play football like we used to?_

_That’s… not a good idea, dad. I could hurt you… I’m much stronger than you remember._

_“Minseok?”_ Chanyeol said in the bond, standing up and shaking Yixing’s hand off of him, _“Do you think, since Baekhyun is human, they’d be more proud of me?”_

They were all looking at him, he knew it, but that was normal - he was supposed to lead, not be a lovesick puppy all of the time. 

Minseok's face dulled as he leaned over the porch railing, “I.. I don’t think they’re _not_ proud of you, Chanyeol. I think.. they just don’t understand, and they’re trying very hard to understand our kind.” 

_“But what would they think since Baekhyun is human?”_

A whine came from his side before Chanyeol had a smaller wolf rubbing against him with raven colored fur and wide eyes. _“Stop it Chanyeol, you’re hurting yourself.”_

Chanyeol huffed and tried to gently bump the smaller wolf out of his space, but this was _Kyungsoo,_ and whatever he wanted at all times he _always got._

And with a snarl, the smaller wolf came back at him again, nipping at his shoulder with a warning growl.

For a leader, Chanyeol sure was fast to submit to his pack because the wolf whimpered and plopped right back into the dirt, letting the other rub comfortingly into his fur.

Within a minute he had a handful of wolves on him, and _one_ measly (part) human boy who jumped onto his back and made him growl and the others bark at Sehun for taking up so much space.

“Why are we dog piling?” Sehun laughed, oblivious but he was just a little shit and liked to be included.

A bunch of fuzzy wolves huddling together was reason enough for the youngest to monopolize their attention.

 _“You little shit, you are such a goddamn attention-“_

Chanyeol snickered at the beginning of Junmyeon’s scolding, but just closed his eyes when Jongin began to clean his muzzle.

At least things were okay for a little while.

***

Chanyeol’s life only seemed to get _worse._

Sehun shifted on his way to the house, he’d had plans to later take Baekhyun to dinner, and _now.._

Now he was faced with _this._

There was a serious of yelping in his ears, mostly likely from the force of the pack taking Sehun away, but the sound of the storm drowned out most of it.

_“Fuck you.”_

Chanyeol felt everything in his entire chest crack like he was made of glass, there was _nothing_ going through his mind right now, and even though Baekhyun was standing there he was having the hardest time processing what was happening.

Baekhyun was crying, he could see that, he could _feel it._

It hurt like a bad ache to just see the human so upset. Baekhyun could likely barely see through his glasses because they were all fogged up, and his clothes were weighing him down.

_“Were you ever going to tell me this! Ever? What the fuck is- what’s wrong with you!”_

What _was_ wrong with him? Chanyeol had been asking himself that for nearly two years now - what _was wrong with him?_

This was because he was a wolf. It had to be. It was because he was a _stupid, idiotic, weak… pathetic_ excuse for a person. 

Chanyeol didn’t move at all when Baekhyun screeched an angry sob and hit him in the chest, he couldn’t even function enough to do more than tilt his head to see under foggy glasses and feel so _mad_ at himself. 

How could he do this to Baekhyun? 

First his parents - he’d terrified them, they now thought that all wolves were scary, aggressive, unlovable.

Now Baekhyun? Could Chanyeol ever do anything right?

Chanyeol reached out to try and find words, cupping soaked and _freezing_ cheeks, stuttering on his own thoughts but they were flipping around.

_It’s freezing out, you’re going to get sick._

_We can talk about this inside._

_Baekhyun, please stop yelling at me._

_I’m sorry._

_I’m sorry I'm sorry I’m sorry._

_“What is wrong with you!”_ Baekhyun yelled at him, removing the hands off of him. Chanyeol let them fall and dangle uselessly at his sides. He deserved it.

_“You fucking tricked me? What did I ever do to you!”_

Chanyeol got something out, he couldn’t even really _hear_ what he’d said because so many thoughts were flying around in his mind - but when he tried to touch Baekhyun the human hissed at him like it _hurt_ to be touched by him and pushed his hands away. 

_“- you and your fucking pack of fucking dogs!”_

There was too much going on, the rain was too loud in his ears, in his mind he could hear his pack members screaming at Sehun in the forest, the wolf in him was yelling at him.

He heard Minseok yell - _why was everyone yelling at him?_

He was going crazy. 

Chanyeol dug his hands into his hair to _try_ and focus, sobbing out a breath but he couldn’t be sure if it was tears or rain he sniffed up, _“B-Baek-Baekhyun - I need, I need you to stop and listen for a second, okay? Please, please. P-Please.”_

 _“Listen, please just..”_ Chanyeol ducked down into a ball, hands grasping the back of his head completely panic stricken as he crouched down in the grass with Baekhyun four feet away. “... it’s not, not.. we were going to tell you… eventually. There are… there are things we have to be sure of before.. before then.” 

“Like what?” Baekhyun cried, removing his hand to point at him accusingly, “Like…if I could keep a secret? Is that why Minseok kept asking such weird questions after I saw you in the woods! _So what’d you do this weekend, Baekhyun? See anything cool? Exciting?”_ He spat, visually weak as his knees trembled, “If I wanted to tell, I would have told! And I didn’t even know it was you! I have the heart to… to not want a random wolf killed and you think maybe I’d get you killed?” 

“I know!” Chanyeol screamed, “I know, I know! I’m… i'm sorry - I’m sorry - B-Baekhyun, you really don’t understand - you… _you can’t go, please don’t go. Don't go- don’t-“_

“And why should I n-not go! You complete- completely - you…” Baekhyun gasped for breath as he physically choked on his tears, “- You broke _my_ trust! You broke my heart, you just… was this a joke? I told you- I told you that I hated to be… be.. ridiculed and lied to, and.. and then you hide this, I can’t Chanyeol. I can’t jus-“

“I love you! I love you, don’t go!” Chanyeol was then hurrying towards him, “You have to- you.. you’re my mate and have to… stay, have to - you can’t-“ 

The noises that followed were more like blubbering for any sort of words as he launched at the human and tucked him into his chest.

Chanyeol had so much to say it came out in the form of _nothing_ at all as he held the human close and whimpered into his hair, begging him to understand.

There was words he was saying, but over everything going on Chanyeol couldn’t hear them. 

_“Let me go, Chanyeol.”_

_“Let me go right now.”_

_“Chanyeol!”_

_“Let me go.”_

Hands grabbed his shoulder and Chanyeol wailed as he squeezed Baekhyun tighter.

_“Chanyeol. He said to let him go.”_

Please no. 

Please, stay. Baekhyun please stay. Please listen please.

I love you.

Please _hear me._

Baekhyun couldn’t. He wasn’t a wolf, all his internal sobbing and whimpering wasn’t going to the humans mind.

It only made Chanyeol look a _fool_ because his pack was silent now. And he knew only they could hear it.

_“Chanyeol, your mate said to let him go, right now.”_

Chanyeol laid down in the soaking grass and sobbed as Baekhyun ran away.

***

“Baekhyun looks like shit.” 

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? Chanyeol looks like a twig.” 

“Minseok, I know you’re mad but-“

“What is the but? Baekhyun is being too harsh! All he’s doing is hurting the both of them, and I want to talk to him.” 

“You’re being biased - Chanyeol is your nephew.” 

“Yeah? So what! Chanyeol is also sickly right now! Of course I give a fuck about that, Baekhyun is-“

_“Baekhyun is what?”_

Chanyeol came around the corner, eyes dark and hollow. The hoodie that he wore was more draped on him than it fit him despite the fact that a few weeks ago it fit him perfectly.

Not anymore.

Nothing really did.

“Chanyeol.” Luhan stood up and put his hands up like a silent warning, “We were just..” 

“Having a meeting without me.” Chanyeol answered, eyeing his own pack as he licked chapped lips and gave a stiff nod. “That’s fine. Fine.” 

_“Yeol.”_ His uncle climbed to his feet and looked weary - rightfully so given his words were bordering on the edge of offensive moments before. “Good morning. We’re happy to have you out of your room, Yeollie.” 

Chanyeol could have snorted if he had the energy, but he was too tired for that, too weak. 

He just looked at Minseok for a moment before he turned to acknowledge his pack, specifically landing his eyes on Junmyeon because he’d mentioned Baekhyun. “How is he?” 

Instantly a bunch of sighs sounded and Chanyeol pursed his lips with crossed arms, _“What?”_

“You should really focus on yourself right now.” Yifan said firmly, but apologetic.

Chanyeol _actually_ felt an emotion other than sorrow for the first time in a while. 

Because he was _pissed._

“You want me to look at myself right now!” He scoffed, “I can’t even look in the _mirror! I can’t even get out of bed! Do you even know how bad I fucking feel right now?_ Of course you don’t - of fucking course not, because you’re not in my place! You’re not in my position! Baekhyun hates my fucking guts and… and you want me to focus on _myself? My mate hates me and-“_

“He doesn’t hate you Chanyeol-“

Chanyeol threw his head back in a weak excuse for a laugh, but there was _nothing_ comical happening right now. 

“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo snarled and climbed to his feet, “Stop acting like this is all your fault, both you and Baekhyun feel like _shit,_ and sure - he’s been a bit stubborn - he’s _hurt,_ you guys will work it out, there’s no reason for you to keep t-“

The large wolf held a hand over his ear to hold his head, bringing it over his eyes to sigh and shake his head. “Let me get one thing straight.” He ordered, “Baekhyun is my _mate._ He’s my mate and he’s going to be my mate even if… if… things… aren’t well - but he is going to be respected and none of you are going to _ever_ call him stubborn or dramatic, or whatever the hell Minseok was going to _say earlier!”_

Everyone stared at him as Chanyeol hissed to himself when he found tears gathering in his eyes, turning around to grab the counter with a choked noise.

“Chanyeol, I didn’t mean anything bad by that. I love Baekhyun, you know that.” Minseok began softly, “But, we just think that-“

“I’m going on a run.” The alpha said firmly, turning around fully aware his face was dripping tears as he grabbed started towards the door.

“Chanyeol!” The group panicked, Luhan rushed to try to make it to the door, “Chanyeol, you should at least-“

The screen rattled when the wolf slammed it shut, and Luhan only caught the tail end of Chanyeol shedding off his hoodie before the wolf was taking off, _“- eat something.”_ He finished with a sigh.

“He hadn’t eaten in three days.” Minseok worried.

“At least Baekhyun lets us force feed him,” Zitao said miserably. 

***

The thing about being in wolf form was the fact that Chanyeol wasn’t supposed to go out of the forest.

That was only common sense really, he was a _wolf,_ and it didn’t help that the town was full of rangers because it was a town that had bears and deer and _all_ sorts of animals.

It _really_ didn’t help that Baekhyun’s father was a wildlife ranger too.

Chanyeol didn’t have anything at all to lose though, and he just wanted to look.

So he was doing just that - looking - not hurting anyone.

It was just eating away at him, he needed to make sure Baekhyun was safe and since all his messages went unanswered and he was met with too much _unneeded_ concern when he asked, he had to do what he needed to.

And if that was lying flat on his belly in the grass and watching a window that had no movement for the past hour then that’s just what he’d do.

Honestly, Chanyeol hadn’t been expecting Baekhyun to notice him.

But, when the curtain moved a bit and he suddenly saw a flash of an orange sweatshirt, he’d instantly whined a high pitched noise without his own permission. 

He hadn’t even seen the humans _face_ and that’s how his wolf reacted - this was killing him not seeing Baekhyun.

That was what Baekhyun’s attention though, and rationally Chanyeol knew if it had gotten his humans attention then his father inside could have heard but he didn’t care when Baekhyun squinted out the window rather cutely.

Chanyeol’s tail began to move on it's own accord as the human moved around to find his glasses before he was back in the frame.

As soon as Baekhyun recognized the wolf, Chanyeol saw his expression change.

It went from confused to pained in a snap of fingers, Baekhyun brought a hand to his mouth and looked like he was debating on slamming the curtains shut.

He didn’t.

Instead, Chanyeol watched him take a seat on his dresser to look out the window, and he began to sob.

Unwillingly, the noises of the last time he’d seen Baekhyun took over his ears even though he was too far to hear the humans' pain now.

The expressions were still the same. Baekhyun’s forehead bunched up and the deepest circles under his eyes looked darker as he buried the bottom half of his face into his elbow.

_I’m sorry, Baekhyun. I love you._

Chanyeol didn’t want to hurt him anymore and stared at him for just a moment longer, projecting all his apology into a single look before he turned around planning to get out of the clearing.

But a single smacking sound told him not to.

Baekhyun had a hand on the glass when he turned to look again, his eyes weren’t forgiving, they were full of tears and pain.

But he didn’t want Chanyeol to go - so the teenager _wouldn’t._

Chanyeol laid right back down on the grass to stare up at the window.

***

He'd seen Baekhyun in person today. 

For about two seconds, but it still counted.

Well, at least he felt like it did.

“Stop smiling.” Luhan laughed and ruffled the wolf's hair over the back of the couch but that was _not_ going to make Chanyeol smile any less.

“Oh god, you’re so cute!” Minseok smiled at his nephew and leaned over the couch to grab him in a hug.

Chanyeol wasn’t even in the _mood_ to push him off and whine that his friends were here, this was _pack_ and they were _family_ and if they wanted to tease him right now he had no cares.

“Hey, don’t get too hyped, man - Baekhyun still ran off.” Sehun pointed out quietly.

“Baekhyun was nervous,” Jongdae vouched, sending the youngest a warning look, “He must have ran home when he got nervous.” 

Chanyeol wasn’t caring about the commentary, he just smiled big and laughed, “Should… is it too soon if I try to call? Do you guys know if his first day went okay?”

 _“Why not!”_ Zitao cackled across the room, “What’s the worst that could -“

A knock at the door cut them off and Minseok, for a man double the teenagers' ages, whined like a child as he released his nephew.

_“Have you seen Baekhyun?”_

Instantly all laughter stopped and Chanyeol _jumped_ from the couch, rushing towards the door to peer over his uncle's head.

The _last_ thing he would have thought would be that Baekhyun’s father would be outside their door in full uniform, eyes wide and looking frantic.

“W-What?” Chanyeol spluttered.

“He didn’t come home from school.” 

Chanyeol’s brain was having the hardest time processing that - _Baekhyun not going home?_

Baekhyun had left before them, and it had been _hours_ ago.

It was pitch black outside now.

“I- I haven’t seen him all day,” Mr. Byun said roughly, pulling his hat off and running an anxious hand through his hair, “I was waiting… he didn’t show up - police are coming now, but.. I - I had hope maybe…”

“He.. he’s not here..” Minseok gasped, twisting to grab his coat beside the door, “He’s _not_ here.” 

And just like that it was _panic_ that struck everyone.

The worst part was that Baekhyun’s father was here and Chanyeol _couldn’t_ let his claws out or do more than scrunch his face together in frustration and worry. “Watch out, I’m going to look.” 

“What?” The ranger gawked as a huge teenager stalked outside with a gang of others on his tail, “No, you all need to stay home.” 

_Bullshit._

Like hell that was going to happen, and despite Baekhyun’s fathers comment, Chanyeol could tell he didn’t mean it.

This was his _son,_ of course he wanted Baekhyun to be found as fast as possible.

“More people, more footwork - Yifan, Sehun take the left side of the trial, and then I want everyone else on the right - Baekhyun likes the trail, he’d stick close.” 

“You really think he’s in the forest?” 

Chanyeol laughed humorlessly and twisted to make sure Baekhyun’s father was being distracted, he was- Luhan and Minseok had already convinced him into a car presumably to take him back to the house.

 _“Get running._ ” 

Nobody had to be told twice, this was for a pack member. A _human_ pack member and it made things all that more pressing.

The world must _hate_ Chanyeol to do this to Baekhyun, because the last thing he’d ever - _ever_ ask for was for the human to be alone somewhere strange.

Even worse - alone in the middle of bear infested woods in the freezing cold. 

“Faster!” Chanyeol barked, anxiously clenching his fists, “I need a scent - we need a scent! _Someone find me his scent!”_

God how he wished Baekhyun’s father _hadn’t_ called for backup.

If he was on fours right now it would be no _problem,_ Baekhyun tended to drag his feet and was accident prone so no doubt he’d pick up the scent instantly.

But his duty as a _leader_ came first - and that included making sure his members that were in wolf forms were safe, that he had eyes on the rangers and police lights that he knew would show up soon.

For once, Chanyeol preferred being a wolf to being human, and wanted nothing more than to be reckless and howl for Baekhyun to give him a sign of where he was.

_“Chanyeol! I found glasses over here!”_

***

“So what’s it like?” 

Chanyeol rubbed his palms over freezing shoulders, before bringing icy hands under his chin to tuck into under his shirt.

Baekhyun hissed and made a pained noise at the change in temperatures, but his limbs were frozen, his nose was red, his eyes felt heavy.

Chanyeol didn’t care what silly questions Baekhyun had for him at that time - he couldn’t care about anything more than his frozen mate.

Stuck remembering how Baekhyun had been holding himself for warmth, how the human looked dead already.

How Baekhyun’s lips were cracking from the cold.

Freezing toes dug into his leg, startling his nerves, but Chanyeol just held him tighter.

“It’s like… being _wild.”_

Baekhyun sucked on his lip as he twisted to turn and rest his cheek against Chanyeol's chest, the wolf’s shirt was missing because it laid on the human's body, pooling over his arms to reveal his collarbones and shoulder. “When… in the forest… were you going to attack me? Or what… what was that, it’s so hard to read a wolf.” 

Chanyeol smiled, because despite everything Baekhyun didn’t sound judgmental.

He didn’t sound pushy or angry - only curious, and considering it had been a little since he’d gotten Baekhyun warmed up enough to even talk, he felt relieved Baekhyun finally wanted to talk about it.

About _mistakes._

Of course they’d spoken forgiving words, whispers of apologies, but curiosity got the best of the human.

Honestly, Chanyeol was just glad nobody had come knocking Baekhyun’s door down demanding to know what went on, because he didn’t want his mate getting so worked up.

“No, of course not. Even as a wolf I couldn’t ever hurt you,” _not more than I already have at least.._

“Oh, so it was playful.” 

Laughing, Chanyeol nodded and removed his arm from Baekhyun’s shoulders to grip his waist, gently pulling him over his chest so they rested with Baekhyun’s knees over his hips and chest to chest.

After so long of no contact it was impossible for Chanyeol to just _not_ hold him.

Baekhyun seemed to think the same because the only thing he did was pull the blanket over the back of his neck higher and place his hands around the wolf’s ribs again.

“You had been crying, I was trying to cheer you up,” Chanyeol explained, palm splayed across Baekhyun’s shoulder blades, “Even as a wolf, I’m still _me,_ Baekhyun. And I still hate to see you upset.” 

His mate chewed on his lip with a worrisome expression, upper body sitting up to lift and leaning down to kiss Chanyeol's lips.

Yet, not a peck, just resting there with blue lips for a moment too long to just be affectionate, before sighing and moving to lay his head just under the tallers chin, arms now wrapping under the back of Chanyeol's neck to hug him.

It was guilty, that’s what it was and it didn’t take two and two to put it together, but they both had so much to feel guilty about.

Chanyeol still smiled softly and cupped the back of his head to press a few kisses to the side of his face that he could reach even if it was mostly his cold ear and temple. 

Baekhyun didn’t need to feel so guilty, but if there was one thing Chanyeol hated it was the way he knew he _did._

“Don’t ever endanger yourself ever again, _please,_ angel.” Chanyeol requested into his ear, lips pressing to the cute edge on the shell of Baekhyun’s ear.

It was odd, but in an endearing way.

He heard a sniff and it could be a fever starting up from Baekhyun’s temperature fluctuating so much, it was undeniable that he’d get sick, but Chanyeol knew it wasn’t.

He could tell that wasn’t it.

When Baekhyun cried he breathed heavier, his heart would pound louder and Chanyeol's ears were sensitive to his mates' noises even more so then.

Always inclined to check on him - _why is my mate crying? Upset? Is he hurt?_

Everytime something different sounded from Baekhyun he was already ready to figure out why.

“Sh, no. No, we aren’t doing this,” Chanyeol ordered gently, rolling onto his side in order to properly be able to see Baekhyun.

As soon as he was separated, Baekhyun was already harshly rubbing at his eyes, eyes that undoubtedly were filled with tears and emotion.

Even with tears having yet to fall, his shoulders shook and he did nothing about now being in a different position. 

Chanyeol clicked his tongue and adjusted his shirt over Baekhyun’s shoulder, no doubt still traumatized by seeing his mate red and his lips blue, realistically Baekhyun would when frozen to death within hours and that was the _truth._

He could have died and Chanyeol wouldn’t have been able to live with himself for it - so _no_ he didn’t think Baekhyun should be punished when he obviously felt so guilty and ashamed. 

He didn’t think Baekhyun deserved much else now than to _learn_ and love and attention and for Chanyeol to earn back his trust.

Because he _had_ betrayed Baekhyun - and although it had been unfair not being able to explain he understood his mate much more than the others did. 

And he didn’t care for their opinions of the situation - they loved Baekhyun too, but some did want him to be harsher on his mate for his words.

Chanyeol had nightmares of that night, shutting down entirely because of it.

Because of the _fuck you_ ’s _,_ the screaming, the crying - Baekhyun had been absolutely livid with him yet devastated at the same time and it hurt so much because it was _at him._

 _Chanyeol,_ who had _one job_ and it was to take care of him and loved him and yet was the cause of every pain Baekhyun felt within that moment.

They’d _both_ been punished enough. 

With both hands, Chanyeol grasped Baekhyun’s fingers and pulled them from his face, reevaluating the situation when he realized the tears had begun to fall.

They’d both cried way more than enough tonight - and hopefully enough for a _long while._

He was unsure of what to say.

One good thing could sound entirely different to someone upset, especially to Baekhyun who had gone through more than enough emotional events in the last month.

Cheering Baekhyun up was a priority. 

“You’re so beautiful,” Chanyeol whispered, gently cupping his cheek to brush tears away, “So beautiful, Baekhyun.”

That did help change the subject seeing as Baekhyun laughed wetly and shuffled closer in order to see clearer.

Chanyeol could always tell when the smaller was glassesless that Baekhyun got annoyed not seeing him clearly, but he found Baekhyun too adorable shuffling close with a soft pout.

“God, I nearly lost my mind seeing you,” He chuckled, leaning over to rub their noses together regardless Baekhyun was still sniffly and worked up, “You can’t possibly understand how beautiful you are.” 

He never took Baekhyun as someone insecure, but then again they hardly worried about things like that. Still, Baekhyun smiled gently in a way that Chanyeol felt proud to have seen. The humans' teary eyes glossy as they turned into little crescent moons.

“Not beautiful…” 

Chanyeol legitimately wanted to scoff, but was reminded Baekhyun didn’t see _half_ of what he saw. “If you see me even half as handsome as I see you then I would be absolutely elated, my little mate.” 

Baekhyun smiled rather cheesily, releasing a soft laugh and leaning over to cuddle into Chanyeol's lips, grin pressing gently against the wolf, “So handsome.” 

Chanyeol just smiled at how pretty of a look was in Baekhyun’s eyes now, shifting to lift his head and rest his lips against his mate's forehead and hugging him. “Makes me really happy to hear you say that, now go to sleep, I’m gonna stay up and make sure you’re okay.” 

“Don’t leave,” Baekhyun requested softly, fingers clenching on his skin rather tightly.

“How can I hold you if I’m not here? Of course I’m not going anywhere, baby.” 

***

_“Aren’t you just the cutest thing?”_

“Thank you…” 

_“Where’d you guys find him, huh? Taking in strays - he’s just adorable though, aren’t you, sweetheart?”_

Baekhyun laughed shyly and turned to look away from the laptop and towards Chanyeol for help, his nose scrunched up in a giggly look.

The wolf laughed and turned around in his desk chair to roll towards the computer, “He’s cute, right?” 

There was a pause and he could see in his mother’s eyes the _question,_ the warning.

Chanyeol licked his lips and stood up to instead join Baekhyun on the bed, pulling the human between his legs and shuffling the laptop closer onto Baekhyun’s lap, “Mom, doesn’t he look more puppy than all of us?”

“I do not…” Baekhyun whined weakly, blushing and digging his face into Chanyeol’s shirt with a light smack to the wolf's side, “Stop playing around, Chan.” 

With a dramatic sigh, Chanyeol squeezed Baekhyun’s waist, “Mom, this is Baekhyun, my mate - or, boyfriend - and he’s _human.”_

“Hello, Mrs. Park…” Baekhyun mumbled shyly, bringing a sweater covered hand to his cheek to cover his blush.

They’d discussed it beforehand and Baekhyun had been _adamant_ about _no touching! Don’t be touchy, Chanyeol, I want to make a good impression!_

Obviously that lasted about two seconds because Baekhyun was nervous and he wanted _Chanyeol_ when nervous.

 _“Oh.”_ His mother commented, but Chanyeol didn’t know what he’d been _expecting,_ maybe a sigh of relief, even disappointment. Instead, she smiled, _“You’re just gorgeous, Baekhyun. Don’t let my boy annoy you too much, okay? If he gets annoying you can just spritz him with water like a cat and he’ll run right off.”_

The human took so much joy in that as he laughed and covered his mouth with his hand as he looked up at Chanyeol with amusement swirling in his eyes.

“Mom,” The wolf deadpanned, “I’m a wolf - not a cat.” 

And his mother _froze,_ buffering with shock and looking at Baekhyun. 

“What?” Chanyeol cackled, “You think I say Baekhyun is my mate but he doesn’t even know what that means? He’s not deaf, mom. I literally _just_ said he was my mate. He knows. And other than yanking my ears when I bother him, he doesn’t care about fur on his bedding.” 

“That’s a _lie,_ you’ve been shedding real bad, Chanyeol.” 

“Liar!” Chanyeol whined, biting playfully at Baekhyun’s shoulder to which the human squeaked and dug into his body more with a giggle and feet curling around his calf. 

_“Chanyeol…”_ His mother said hesitantly, _“How is it possible… you and him? You and a human… there’s… what if you hurt him? What if you get upset again?”_

Chanyeol’s first instinct was defensive - just the thought of hurting Baekhyun on accident as a wolf was scary. And as a wolf he had even _more_ protectiveness over his human so it was _impossible._

His parents weren’t aware though. They didn’t _know_ anything.

“Mrs. Park, I mean this really nicely...,” Baekhyun said quietly, “But that’s not how things work.” He said softly, finding one of Chanyeol’s hands around his waist to squeeze. 

Chanyeol pressed a kiss to his hair and brushed a hand over the rouge hairs that were wrapped around the metal frame of Baekhyun’s glasses before turning to look at the laptop. 

“Mom, I think it’s time I explain some things to you. Actually, it’s.. it's two years too late really.” 

_“Better late than never.”_

Chanyeol nuzzled into Baekhyun’s temple with a sigh. 

“That’s right. Better late than never knowing at all,” Baekhyun agreed with a small smile. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so in the original it’s briefly mentioned that Chanyeol moved bc of him being a wolf, but I wanted to expand on that.
> 
> Also, you can see more why Chanyeol was so depressed in the original after Baekhyun basically “hated” him for being a wolf (when really he was just scared)
> 
> Chanyeol already had reservations about being a wolf, and I wanted to elaborate on it! Sorry there’s not much fluff!


	5. Extra: King of The Wolves

There were many pros and cons to being the only human in a pack of wolves.

The cons were mostly Chanyeol drenching him in slobber or shaking off his fur and drenching him in _wolf water._

But this was certainly Baekhyun’s favorite pro, right behind having a walking heater on his tail at all times.

“Stop barking!” The human yelled and delivered a smack to Chanyeol’s head, lying down so his chest was against the wolf's back, wrapped tight against him, “You know I hate when you do that, I’m going to fall off!”

Chanyeol growled in response which Baekhyun knew by now was him sulking, and probably arguing that he was just _speaking_ with the others and not barking like some ferocious dog.

The human just liked to argue with him.

Baekhyun also liked to travel with them to new places in the forest. It made him feel like part of the pack, and seeing as he couldn’t do much of anything that the others could, that meant a lot to him.

Plus, it was awfully fun to ride on the back of a ginormous wolf. 

Even if it was freezing out, and if Baekhyun was incredibly heavy with his backpack full, Chanyeol never seemed to be bothered by the weight at all.

But Chanyeol got distracted as a wolf very easily, so Baekhyun was a big fan of scolding him so he wouldn’t be thrown off into a puddle of mud as he had been once before.

“Chanyeol said that-“

“Don't care, he’s a bad dog.” Baekhyun cut off Yixing who was walking beside them, because _unlike_ Baekhyun Yixing could keep up on two feet.

The human grabbed Chanyeol’s ear tight with a laugh when the wolf growled warningly at him, “My glasses are fogging up, and you're so behind because you're a slow wolf, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun complained, “Everyone else is on top of the mountain already.” 

“Baek,” Yixing snickered as Chanyeol roared and shook his head back and forth to detach the hand from his ear, “He’s an alpha, you know. You can’t just challenge him like that. You're going to fly off if he goes up any faster.” 

“He’s my mate, I’ll do with him what I want.” Baekhyun argued, pressing his cheek down on the back of Chanyeol’s neck, arms looping around the thick neck to hold on tighter, “I am King of The Wolves.” 

Chanyeol made a snickering and sneeze-like sound and Baekhyun pouted at him laughing. “Yah! It’s true!” Baekhyun cried, “Why are you laughing? Huh? You want me to walk up by myself, is that it? You're going to make me mad and then I’ll freeze walking up by myself.” 

Chanyeol shut up real quick with just a rumble and a look at Yixing with a nod of his head towards the mountain.

Baekhyun outright whined when his doggie translator ran up ahead of them to the top of the mountain. He hated to not know what the pack was rumbling about, but in the past year and a half he’d been growing good at wolf talk.

“I’m sorry, you know I get grumpy when everyone does wolf stuff but me,” Baekhyun whispered, tightening his limbs around Chanyeol's furry body and nuzzling between the wolf’s shoulder blades, “There’s _human_ stuff and then there’s _wolf_ stuff, and it’s so annoying.” 

Chanyeol whined and Baekhyun looked out of his foggy glasses as the wolf climbed up the incline.

Chanyeol was really careful with him, especially going up hill, and Baekhyun was actually very grateful that he got to see so many things that others couldn’t possibly see.

Every weekend they had a routine to go find a new and pretty area of the forest.

Baekhyun never realized how gorgeous and big forests were until they went wandering around; last week they’d found an abandoned cave to picnic at, and Yifan told him it most likely had been some sort of shelter for a big mountain lion or even a grey wolf in the past, and Baekhyun thought that was really beautiful.

And honestly, it was the pack that made him so comfortable with nature now.

In the past he was just like any other person, and if someone were to have told him he would eventually pet a wild wolf before he would have thought them insane.

But Chanyeol would never put him in harm's way, and Baekhyun had met and touched a number of wild wolves by now. 

Werewolves, like the pack, were much bigger than wild wolves, and on a handful of occasions they were curiously sought out by smaller packs of wild wolves just coming to see who was in their territory.

But Chanyeol could _communicate_ with other wolves, and it was amazing; Baekhyun had been afraid when these snarling, raised lip, feral looking wolves approached him. 

He couldn’t blame them though, he was _human_ and they likely knew _human smells_ were the reason their forest was getting so small, and how one of their pack members had an arrow sticking straight out of it's shoulder.

Within a few seconds Baekhyun had gone from terrified to watching Chanyeol growl and dominate the group, and then it was like magic that the wolves didn’t seem bothered by him at all and Kyungsoo told him they had just been asking for food.

So Baekhyun gave them everything he had in his bag.

Feeding wild wolves only led Baekhyun to believe what he’d always thought - wolves were beautiful. They were gorgeous and also vicious and there was something about that mix that made Baekhyun love them.

Chanyeol abruptly stopped and laid his chest down on the grass; Baekhyun shuffled off with a shake from the cold and frowned as he looked around the area - they weren’t at the top of the mountain yet, but before he could question the sudden stop a huge head was pressing into his chest and nearly knocking him down.

“Aish, you're too big!” Baekhyun both laughed and scolded, grabbing his face to press a kiss onto his damp nose - he knew by now it was either that or get a very wet kiss, he _really_ didn’t want the slobber from that so he was quick to give his own kiss before Chanyeol got carried away. 

The wolf huffed a warm breath into his cheek before Chanyeol dipped his head down to nip at the string of the backpack, yanking as gently as he could but it still made Baekhyun jerk and move a whole foot close to the wolf.

“Okay, calm down, Yeol.” He complained and dropped down to kneel on the frozen grass to pull the bag off. “One day you’re going to accidentally yank me down a hill.” 

_“Not a chance.”_

Baekhyun snorted and glanced up at him as he pulled out a handful of clothes, “Your dick is going to freeze off if you keep doing that.” 

In response Chanyeol smirked and sent him a bright beam as he retrieved the clothes and began to pull them on, “I run as warm as 105, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. I know you’d be really upset if that happened, baby.” 

With a grumble, Baekhyun blushed and tossed hiking boots at the ground and zipped up the bag. “Hurry up, I’m freezing and _I_ run at a normal 98, so get to it.” 

“You know, for someone who literally _wants_ to trail me like a duckling you're complaining so much today.” 

“Me? The duckling?” Baekhyun snorted, “Please, the other day Tao said I was the alpha, so shut your face or I’ll take over your pack.” 

Chanyeol growled to himself, but when he fixed his boots tight and put his arms out Baekhyun was rushing up to him instantly.

“Is this what happens when you give a human too much power?” Chanyeol chided playfully and scooped him up as if he weighed nothing at all, cradling him bridal style.

The human laughed and curled arms around his neck as the werewolf began to take him up the mountain more, “No. I think what happens is deforestation and hunting.”

“Good thing my human doesn’t like either of those things.” 

“I don’t,” Baekhyun agreed, raking his nails over the back of Chanyeol’s head, gently scratching his hair, “The most power I have is telling you to stop being bossy and occasionally stopping an angry werewolf from fighting. Oh! _And_ making you stop getting fur all over my blankets, you’ll be an outside dog at this rate.” 

“I want to bite you so bad.” 

Baekhyun giggled and pressed a kiss to Chanyeol’s jaw, smushing his face into the alpha’s, “Love ya.” 

And just like that all of Chanyeol’s sulking went away and instead was replaced with a grin as he looked straight ahead even though Baekhyun was messing with his ear. He couldn’t be distracted when it came to Baekhyun’s safety and carrying the human up the mountain was priority. “I love you, cub.”

Baekhyun smiled big and hid his face in Chanyeol's neck, contently messing with the string on the other’s sweatshirt.

Chanyeol was so incredibly warm at all times that Baekhyun found it easy to sink against him.

It took a few minutes to get up the side of the mountain seeing as when not on four legs Chanyeol had to be much more careful with balance and Baekhyun. 

But, when they made it to the top Baekhyun’s face was flushed with the cold and his ears red, frozen. The top of the mountain was icy and snow covered, but he'd expected as much.

“Finally the love birds made it!” Jongin cried, shirtless and laying in the snow unbothered by the cold.

Baekhyun heard Chanyeol snort in his ear, but he felt the wolf holding onto his waist as he was set to his feet, large palms keeping him close. “You know, for a pack of wolves you guys sure are oblivious.” 

Baekhyun frowned at him, confused, and it seemed the rest of the pack were too, because the half dressed wolves were busy tearing open Tupperware containers of food and not paying attention to their surroundings.

“What are you talking about, slow dog?” Sehun complained.

“Don't be mean to him,” Baekhyun ordered at the same time Chanyeol growled, _“I will order you to walk back alone.”_

Baekhyun felt Chanyeol nose proudly into his temple and internally wanted to play it off with the excuse that only _he_ could be mean to his own mate, but even then it would be a bit of a lie because Baekhyun wasn’t ever _mean_ to him - he just teased a lot, but he gave plenty of kisses to make up for it after.

“What I’m talking about,” Chanyeol drawled, pulling Baekhyun’s hips against his front and wrapping arms around him, “Is that there’s a pair of eyes just around the tree behind you. Smells like a rogue.” 

Instantly a handful of growls rang out, and before Baekhyun could blink there were three members jumping up to rush towards the wooded area of the mountain.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, used to their obliviousness, and pulled out of Chanyeol's arms to join the small ring of wolves.

He plopped his backpack onto the ground and within a second had a warm chest against him _again._

“You're going to get sick. Stop it.” 

“Stop being clingy, it’s annoying,” Baekhyun shot back as he took a seat on the snow. 

He was such a liar though, because if Chanyeol left him alone he'd be shivering within seconds and turn blue.

But with a wolf being his private heater and holding him he felt like he was perfectly warm.

It helped that Chanyeol never believed his claims of the wolf being clingy anyway - even if sometimes Chanyeol completely was - he just threw himself to the ground too and wrapped Baekhyun up between his legs as the human went about getting his thermos out.

A screeching sound echoed from the woods before a loud curse sounded from Jongdae who was one of three out in the woods, and Baekhyun heard the pack start chuckling at him, but didn’t know what was up.

“What happened?” 

“Wolf bit him.” Zitao yawned, splayed on his front across Yifan’s back which made the elder growl warningly at him, but even when Yifan bit at him he didn’t move.

“Blood or no blood?” Baekhyun sighed, “I really don’t want a bear to come find us again. Feral wolves, cool, but Winnie The Pooh’s angry brother wasn’t very nice.” 

“Hey, I thought he was pretty cool,” Kyungsoo deflected.

“You hit it with sticks when it grabbed Jongin by his tail,” Chanyeol deadpanned.

Kyungsoo nodded and a grin spread across his face, “Yeah, well Jongin was a little shit that day, so he deserved it.” 

Laughing, Baekhyun lifted his thermos of hot chocolate up to offer to Chanyeol over his shoulder, twisting to sit with his shoulder pressed into Chanyeol’s chest and with his right palm massaging his boyfriends thigh. 

Chanyeol kissed his cheek and curled his arm around his waist as he took a big drink, palm petting Baekhyun’s stomach. 

“Tired?” 

“I’m not tired,” The wolf argued gently, pressing the warm container into Baekhyun’s chest again, “Don't worry, baby.” He cooed and bumped the humans nose just beside the rim of his glasses. 

Baekhyun wouldn’t say it aloud, but he _always_ worried over the pack.

_“Fuck!”_

“She’s so cute! She’s so cute!”

Chanyeol was up on his feet so quickly that Baekhyun squeaked and had to catch himself before he fell over seeing as he'd been leaning on his mate heavily. 

“Are you bleeding?” Chanyeol demanded, voice stern, expression flat.

Baekhyun watched with eyes wide and arms curled around his thermos as Jongdae cursed and shook his hand out meanwhile Yixing had a bundle in his palms.

“The runt has a bite, but no teeth yet,” Junmyeon laughed and patted Jongdae’s back, “Don't worry, Yeol. It was Dae’s fault, he just lunged at her with no warning.” 

The alpha stayed stone cold until he walked up to Yixing with hands out.

“She hates Dae. I love her,” Yixing laughed with his dimples settling deep.

Sniffling and eyes wide with interest Baekhyun watched Chanyeol pick the wolf pup up with one hand, bringing her eye to eye with him and growling.

The pup whimpered and put her white ears back and Baekhyun scrunched his face up in irritation when Chanyeol growled at the puppy. 

_“Yah! Park Chanyeol! Don't scare babies!”_ Baekhyun barked, jumping up with a scowl.

“They’re just testing each other a bit,” Junmyeon pointed out, but Baekhyun didn’t care and delivered a smack to Chanyeol’s stomach and snatched the wolf pup up.

The baby did snap at him a little, but she was entirely frightened with so many other wolf smells around her, and she was toothless, so it didn’t hurt.

It also helped that Baekhyun was bundled up like a marshmallow, so she couldn’t even bite through his coat if she wanted to.

“You poor thing, scary alpha’s being mean to you.” Baekhyun tsked.

The pup was grey and white colored with blue eyes and only about the size of both of his hands out together. 

Baekhyun didn’t know much about wolf pups, but he knew she couldn’t be that old, because she was so incredibly small.

“Hi, baby.” He cooed, bringing her close to his chest before he was taking a seat on the ground again, “Those wolves are so stupid, you just want a little love.” 

_“Hey! Watch it!”_

Baekhyun just focused on the wolf, petting her twig matted fur and she didn’t even try to bite him at all. She just sniffed curiously and wiggled a little closer to his thermos for warmth.

It made Baekhyun frown and he twisted to grab his bag to dig through it.

“Why is she just out here?” Yixing worried.

“Maybe she's deformed?” Junmyeon guessed.

“She’s a runt.” Chanyeol corrected as he came around Baekhyun’s back to wrap around him again, earning a _be good_ look from his mate as he snuggled his chin into his shoulder. “Parents must have had too many pups, they pushed her aside for one that had a higher chance of living.” 

Baekhyun did _not_ like that at all. He frowned and pulled a spare pair of socks out of the bag followed by a ziplock of sandwiches.

“That’s horrible. She’s going to die out here.” Baekhyun fussed, picking up the pup just to slide her into one of the socks. 

She was so weak she didn’t even fuss much, mostly just kicking her front paws back and forth a bit and whimpering.

Whatever energy she had must have gone to biting Jongdae, and Baekhyun considered that a good reason to be tired out - he'd bite Jongdae too if he had the strength for it. 

Stupid werewolves and their thick skin.

“It’s nature, Baek.” Chanyeol sighed into his ear like he knew exactly what Baekhyun was doing.

Baekhyun frowned and fixed his glasses before tearing off a piece of bread from the crust of the sandwich and offering it to the pup. He knew it wasn’t what a baby wolf should have without teeth or strength to chew, but she accepted it to suckle on anyway.

“Chan….” 

_“No.”_

“Chanyeol, I’m just-“

“Absolutely _not.”_

Baekhyun whined outright and twisted around with his lips pressed out and eyes sad, fixing Chanyeol with a pout and leaning into his forehead, “But I just feel so _bad,_ Yeollie… she’s going to die and I’m going to cry so hard.” 

“Come on, Yeol! You're being played again!” Yifan began to laugh.

It didn’t matter what the pack said though, not when Baekhyun was looking at him with these sad, dull eyes and giving him his best puppy look.

_“Fine! But she’s outside only!”_

***

“Isn’t she so cute?” Baekhyun giggled and yanked his pajama shirt over his underwear, feeling the cold stare into his back.

“Ah! She’s so cute!” He added as he turned around and saw the wolf pup sleeping peacefully on Chanyeol's bare chest.

The alpha glared at him, lying against his pillows and pouting. “I told you she wasn’t allowed on the bed.” 

“She’s not on the bed. She’s on _you,_ grumpy.” Baekhyun shot back, rolling his eyes and strolling over to retrieve the pup. “Luna loves you.” 

“I hate her.” 

“Too bad,” The human mused. “But! I’ll put her away just because I want wolf snuggles too.” 

Chanyeol tried to hide his smile then, but Baekhyun always saw his dimples forming before he fully beamed.

It made him blush at the attention Chanyeol suddenly threw at him, he was used to it _sometimes,_ but it was still flustering. Baekhyun grinned and moved to lay the sleeping puppy on a pillow on the floor beside the bed, “You’ll like her when she gets bigger.” 

Chanyeol hummed and as soon as Baekhyun was plopping down beside him he was nuzzling into his cheek and kissing his head. 

“I don’t care as long as you like me more than you like her.” 

“Jealous already?” Baekhyun giggled and caught Chanyeol’s jaw in his hand, pressing a firm peck to his mouth and throwing a leg over the wolf’s hip, “Love you the most, you know that.” 

A bright grin spread across Chanyeol's lips before he smirked and fiddled with the rim of Baekhyun’s glasses, “How are we supposed to have sex now? You brought the kid in here.” 

Baekhyun blushed all the way down his chest before making a move to roll off the bed. 

_“I’ll put her downstairs!”_ He squeaked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wahhh Baek isn’t as shy in the future, instead he just bullies Chan endlessly

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: Gigi_B56 - Come see sneak peeks of stories!
> 
> https://curiouscat.qa/Gigi_B56 - Ask me questions!


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